


Fearless

by Sexidebater



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Romance, Self-Harm, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-22 19:15:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 41,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22188400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sexidebater/pseuds/Sexidebater
Summary: Hermione had a sneaking suspicion on who the headboy for the make up 7th year would be, and she was right. Hoping that the year would be boring with Harry gone was a pipe dream. *This will contain Mature Content! Be prepared!*
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 12
Kudos: 94





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello kiddies!  
> So one of my specialties is smut! And that is what this is! It will take a bit to get to the smuttiness, so be patient with me! This fic is complete, it is just going to be a matter of uploading it all!  
> Thank you for sticking around! Review and leave Kudos! Let me know how I did!

Chapter 1  
There were 10 new ghosts. All of them bloodied and battered teenagers. Hermione recognized all of them, and her eyes swelled up whenever she saw them. Colin Creevy was the worst. She would burst into tears when she saw him.  
Colin avoided her so she wouldn't cry too much. Hermione cried a lot, but Colin didn't want to add to it.  
It had taken all summer to get the castle restored, and when classes began on September 1st, Hermione was already moved in into the Head Girl's room. McGonagall hadn't told her yet who the Head Boy was, but Hermione had an idea as to who it was.  
Attendance was expected to be extremely low. Almost no muggle borns would be returning that year, the majority would be halfblood. Few purebloods were returning. And only 5 students from Slytherin would be returning.  
McGonagall hadn't told her who those Slytherins would be, but again, she had a sneaking suspicion.  
Between cleaning up the school and avoiding new ghosts, Hermione was also going between Hogwarts and the Ministry all summer to testify at Death Eater Trials.  
Her least favorite trial one was the Malfoys. She stood on the stand to defend Draco and Narcissa, she didn't care less about Lucius.  
Hermione's main goal in life right now, not including school was to avoid thinking about the war. Specifically, the manor. It was easy to forget about during the day, being busy with work, and testifying. But, at night, she couldn't avoid it. Sometimes she could wake up, sometimes she couldn't. They say you can't feel pain in your dream, but Hermione could. She could feel every single pulse of the Crucio curse ripping through her body.  
Hermione shuddered. She stuffed a few books into her bag, the undetectable extender charm still holding strong. After their escapades on the run, she had tossed the old bag somewhere deep inside the Weasley attic. She went to her local Tesco, bought a new run of the mill backpack, and dared any ministry official to try her on "illegal extender charms" or "magicking muggle items."  
Headmistress McGonnagall had called her to have tea with her, she had a few important things to discuss, including head boy. With all the secrecy surrounding the position, Hermione had figured out who it would be; she had a small bet going on with herself.  
If it was Draco Malfoy, then she was going to have three shots of firewhisky, and a large batch of HoneyDukes chocolate. If it was someone like Anthony Goldstein, it wouldn't be shrouded in this much secrecy.  
Hermione smirked, deciding that she would still have the firewhiskey no matter what, and being honest with herself, she'd have the chocolate too. She looked around her room, having her own suite was fantastic. She didn't have to fight other girls over what to decorate the room with, she didn't have to deal with the late-night gossip sessions that lasted until three in the morning, right before a big exam.  
Most importantly, she didn't have to worry about the boys wandering in, and finding her naked. That was the worst part of traveling with Harry and Ron, they had no concept of boundaries.  
She left her bedroom and headed towards the headmistress's office.  
Hermione took a deep breath through her nose, and exhaled through her mouth, Felis catus.  
The gargoyle in front of the door moved to reveal a staircase. Hermione stepped onto the staircase and enjoyed the few seconds riding up. She reached the office and closed her eyes. Taking another breath in, she opened them on the exhale.  
And before her, sat Headmistress McGonagall and a Mister Draco Malfoy.  
Hermione couldn't help herself, she laughed. It was an ugly hysterical laugh, she actually bent over, and struggled to stop laughing. She could feel McGonagall glare at her, yet she needed this laugh.  
After a solid minute, Hermione straightened herself, and fought to control her giggles as she went to the seat by Malfoy.  
"Good evening Headmistress, Malfoy. Is Malfoy head boy? Cause if he is, someone owes me a drink." Hermione said, biting the insides of her cheeks to help keep a straight face.  
McGonagall took a deep breath, "How did you know Miss Granger?"  
"Come on Headmistress. Give me a bone. I'm the brightest witch of my age," Hermione said mockingly, "I know that Malfoy was always right behind me in marks, if everything had been normal, he would still be my equal when we got to this point. If this was say, some random Ravenclaw who was to be Head Boy, you wouldn't have called me into your office this late at night just to tell me. You'd just say 'Anthony Goldstien is Head Boy. You guys will go great together.' Minerva, don't insult me."  
McGonagall stared at her, her mouth agape. Malfoy choked back a laugh.  
"Wow, I think I like this new Granger. I'm going to have fun with you this year." Malfoy said with a genuine smile.  
He looked better than he had at his trial. His face still looked hollowed out, his skin still ashen, and his hair still dull. But he no longer looked like death warmed over. He was wearing a dark green button up shirt with a pair of black slacks. Hermione glanced over to his forearm, seeing his shirt buttoned tightly around his wrist. She held back an even more inappropriate laugh. She wasn't the only one hiding her scars.  
He noticed her glance, "Yes, Granger. It's still there. No, you cannot see it. Unless we magically end up in bed together." He goaded.  
"Mister Malfoy!" McGonagall exclaimed.  
Hermione lost it again, and let out another loud laugh. Malfoy joined her in this one.  
"Miss Granger!"  
It only made them laugh harder.  
Struggling to breath, Malfoy forced out, "Way to go Mudblood. We're gonna get detention, and the year hasn't even started."  
"No Amazing Bouncing Ferret, this is all your fault!" Hermione shot back, also struggling to breath.  
McGonagall sighed, and waited them out. They would tire themselves out eventually. She learned this during her very first year as a teacher. After a few minutes, both of her pupils stopped gasping for air. Their faces were still red, and Draco had some escaped tears from laughing too hard.  
Once everyone had calmed down, McGonagall resumed her talk.  
"Wonderful, we are all on the same page here. You two will be working together. Mister Malfoy here, genuinely has earned his position. And due to extreme circumstances, the entirety of last year's lessons will be voided, so you will both return to lessons as normal, and take your N.E.W.T.S. Miss Granger, I will need you to act as a buffer for Mister Malfoy here. As you know, now only six Slytherin students will be returning to Hogwarts. We will be having no new muggleborn students for a few years until we can fix the records that he-who—"  
Draco interrupted her, "Call him Tom, or call him Voldemort. Just not that stupid gimmick again. I think Dumbledore made that a point. And lord knows that Potty went around spouting off his name. But please, out of respect, call him anything but he who must not be named. Or god forbid, The Dark Lord." Draco went out of his way to over-exaggerating the death eater name for the darkest wizard.  
Hermione chuckled, "Where was this Malfoy when we first started school? We could have been best friends."  
"Hiding behind my self-appointed superiority. And my father's coattails."  
"Oh, no! Will your father hear about this?"  
"Yes, yes he will you filthy mudblood!"  
"Pale ferret!"  
McGonagall groaned "Okay, children, we need to focus here. Miss Granger, you must run interference with all the Slytherin Students. Especially with people from your house. This will be a difficult year. I am depending on you two to NOT use language like that in public, and to show a united front. The country is in ruins, this school is on the brink of closure, we need leadership."  
Hermione put on her serious face, "Of course headmistresses. I think, that, the war has changed us in many ways. Perhaps Malfoy and I joking together would help. But obviously, he's not going to wander around calling me a mudblood, and I'm not going to call him a ferret in public. And with Harry gone, and me not having to babysit him all the time, I get the feeling that this year is going to be boring."  
McGonagall chuckled, "We can only hope. Now, Mister Malfoy here is taking the same classes as you, except for history. He will be taking divination instead. And Mister Malfoy, you already know that you are the most senior Slytherin and that none of your old friends will be joining you right?"  
"Yes, Headmistress. I know that. Looks like you're my only friend Granger. Is that all McGonagall? I would like to unpack and get settled in, before all of the students return in a few days."  
"Yes, that is all. There is a shared common room that will connect your rooms. You both have different passwords to your own rooms. Nobody can enter your room, except for myself or another professor, without your permission. Mr. Malfoy, you already know that Miss Granger has a cat. He will be going between her room, the common room, and the grounds in general. Don't ask me how that magic works, it just does with cats. I've tried to find out, yet I cannot figure it out."  
Hermione stifled a giggle, this was going to be an interesting year.


	2. Chapter 2

Draco appraised his new room. It was bare. There were green and silver bed set on the bed. But other than that, there was nothing that made the room personal.  
Draco waved his wand, causing his trunk to open. All of his things flew out of the trunk, and found themselves in their proper places. All of his clothes flew into the drawers, perfect folded. His suits and school uniforms danced into the closet, hanging themselves.  
His few photos of times long gone set themselves around the room. All of his school supplied flew onto his desk neatly arranged. Draco sat back and watched the magic at work. Though he had grown up all his life surrounded by magic, it never failed to fascinate him. Life was so much easier with a wand. Yet also complicated. You had certain responsibilities when you had magic. Draco wasn't a big fan of that part.  
He spun in his chair and looked at his class schedule. It was cram packed. Almost all the same classes he took last year, yet nobody paid attention in class last year. Most of the teachers were preoccupied with protecting the Gryffindor students that they didn't really learn anything. Draco didn't have an advantage for an easy passing grade.  
His mind drifted to Hermione. She had lost weight since he last saw her. And that was saying a lot. She was already thin, and now she was smaller. That wasn't a good sign.  
He sighed, this was going to be a long year. Being in such close proximity to her. They may be on joking terms, but that wasn't enough to equate to a perfect relationship. Obviously, they would keep it professional, but with so much history between them, it would be a bit difficult.  
The spell ended, and everything was unpacked, except for Draco's private stash of firewhiskey. He shrugged, stood up and went to the trunk, where he pulled it out, uncapped it and took a swig. Smirking, he left the room, bottle still in his hand.  
He found Hermione sitting by the fire with a file full of important looking documents.  
"Hey, Granger. You mentioned firewhiskey earlier. Want some?" He asked, showing her the bottle.  
Hermione laughed and nodded, "Yeah, do you want me to get you a glass, or are we just going to share the bottle."  
"Depends on if you want to do dishes."  
"Let's just share the bottle. It's alcohol. It's hard to get sick from sharing something that specifically kills germs."  
Draco took another swig, then handed the bottle to Hermione. He sat down while she took a drink and passed the bottle back to him.  
"What are you reading? It looks very boring."  
Hermione chuckled, "I'm reviewing paperwork concerning the death eater trials. We're trying to figure out how to fix the purged records of muggleborn witches and wizards. Voldemort burned the records and threw the ashes into the sea. But we don't want to lose those children."  
"And they haven you working on it?" Draco asked, completely puzzled, "You're still in school."  
"Well, I am the brightest witch of my age who has unlimited access to the restricted section. And they just want me to review it and see if I can figure anything out, give them a fresh perspective. Right now, they're sending out sensor spells to see if any random, accidental magic occurs where there aren't registered witches or wizards. Yet it's difficult to cast and maintain all of those spells."  
"Well," Draco took another swig, "If you can't figure it out, then nobody else will be able to."  
Hermione smiled, "Thank you, Draco. Those are very kind words."  
"Don't get used to it, sweetie. Here, take another drink and put those away. We're now going to drink and not worry about our responsibilities." Draco replied, holding the bottle out to her.  
She closed the file and placed it on the table next to her. Taking the bottle from Draco, she put it to her mouth and took three gulps of the liquid. It burned as it went down her throat. She shuddered a bit, then took another drink, passing it back to Draco.  
They sat in silence, passing the bottle back and forth a few times, then Hermione turned to Draco. "Ferret, I am craving chocolate. Would you like to sneak out like the adults that we are, and break into Honeydukes?"  
Draco laughed, also intoxicated, "And how are we going to break in so easily? It's one o'clock in the morning."  
"I know a secret passage! Come on! Let's go!" Hermione said, standing up and stumbling to get her shoes.  
Draco laughed and followed her lead. He pulled on his shoes, and grabbed Hermione's arm for support, almost pulling her down with him.  
Hermione stifled her giggle as they left their common room and she led him to the One-Eyed Witch statue. When they reached it, Hermione stood straight and whispered the password. "Dissendium."  
The statue moved to the side to let them into the secret passage. "Lumos" Hermione said with a flick of her wand. The passage lit up as the witch statue slid back into place.  
"Hermione, how the hell do you know about this passage?" Draco asked, pulling out his wand and turning also preforming the Lumos charm.  
Hermione giggled, and swerved a bit in her walking, "Fred and George. And James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. They made this map that shows everything in Hogwarts." Hermione gasped, "I should get Harry to send it to me! It would make my job SOOOOO much easier if I could just see the students and where they were."  
Draco chuckled, also struggling to maintain his balance, "That's mean. It would make your job too easy. You would bust so many people, it would totally be uncool."  
"No, students out of bed deserve to be busted."  
"You're saying that you deserved to be busted for the dragon?"  
"That, Malfoy, was different! That was an emergency that I couldn't tell an adult about! I handled it just fine. And might I remind you, you're the idiot who ALSO got in trouble."  
"Jesus, Granger. I hated going into that fucking forest with that stupid dog. First experience with Voldemort. He took pleasure in reminding me of it often when he was living in my house. I should have taken you as my partner. Left Longbottom with Harry."  
Hermione stifled her laugh, "That was not a fun experience, that's for sure. Neville cried later that night."  
Draco chuckled, "Of course he did. Probably would have cried more if he had been with me. Think he'll hit me this year?"  
Hermione contemplated it, "I would avoid teasing him. I wouldn't put it past him to get physical with you."  
Draco chuckled as the approached the end of the passage and were met with a ladder.  
"Okay, we have to be quiet. The shop keepers live upstairs." Hermione whispered with a smile.  
"Okay!" Draco whispered back.  
Slowly they ascended the ladder, taking their time to open the cellar, and not make too much noise.  
Standing in the cellar, Hermione appraised the stairs, trying to figure out how loud they would squeak.  
"Here, I've got an idea," Draco whispered, he pointed his wand and the stairs and whispered, "silencio."  
"Are you sure it will work on inanimate objects?" Hermione whispered.  
"Yes, I've used it before on stair cases. Come on."  
They carefully made their way up the stairs, which never squeaked. Hermione bit back a giggle as they opened the door to the shop. She wished that she had Harry's invisibility cloak, but he needed it because it made his job a lot easier.  
Their eyes widened as they stared at the beauty that was the candy shop. Swallowing hard, Draco looked around at all the chocolates and suckers. Hermione quietly pulled a bag from the counter and started to slowly fill it with her favorite candies. Pumpkin pastries, chocolate frogs, licorice wands, toffees, etc.  
Draco followed her lead, and in a few minutes, they had heaping bags of candy. Hermione laughed quietly to herself as she did the math for the amount of money they would owe HoneyDukes. She felt guilty to blatantly steal from a small business, so she left the appropriate amount of money on the counter, and a little extra as an apology for breaking in. Draco followed suit.  
Then quietly, they went back down stairs and into the passage. Once they were far enough away from the door, they burst into laughter.  
"That was a lot more fun that it should have been," Draco cackled, falling into a wall.  
"Let's try to avoid making a habit of it," Hermione replied, giggling at Draco's failure to walk properly.  
The approached the opening to the passage, and Hermione whispered the password. Ducking her head out to check if the coast was clear, she entered the hallway.  
"Granger," Draco said in a normal voice, "Classes haven't started yet, we really can't break the rules when it's not school time."  
"Oh, right." Hermione said, her voice also returning to a normal volume. She giggled as they returned to their shared common room. Returning to their seats, Hermione grabbed the bottle and took a few more gulps. The bottle was 3/4th empty now. She held it out to Malfoy who took a large swig of it.  
"Just a heads up, 'Mione," Draco slurred, "I have become a bit of an alcoholic, so expect more nights like this, where I'm drinking by the fire."  
"Don't worry, I've also been drinking more," Hermione hiccupped, "So I'll be joining you. We can bond!"  
Draco smirk, and looked at the bushy haired witch. She had grown immensely since first year. She had been a buck-tooth nerd, and not to be shallow, but she had gotten hot. Of course, he had a crush for her genius. He longed to have an intelligent conversation with someone. Crab and Goyle were both unable to discuss actual literature, potions, and history with him. He always knew that Hermione Granger would be able to hold those conversations with him. Yet he knew that it would be taboo to have these with her, at least in his father's eyes.  
Yet here he was, drinking heavily with the perfect princess of Gryffindor. He kind of wanted to kiss her, yet held back.  
As drunk as they were, that would be a major no-no. At least, not this early in their quest to become friends.  
Yet he could feel his attraction to the small witch growing. It was going to be a long year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review and leave Kudos!


	3. Chapter 3

When classes started, Hermione and Draco only saw each other in class. Death Eater trials were still happening, so they found themselves at the ministry very often, both testifying in different trials. Draco more often than Hermione.  
When they weren't at the ministry, they were studying for their classes. Whenever they had a free night, they would have a glass or two of fire whiskey together. Draco started to worry about Hermione's drinking problem. He admitted to himself that he had a problem, but that didn't mean that he wanted Hermione to have one too.  
He understood that Hermione had a difficult time during the war, but he didn't want her to abuse her body like he did. He sighed to himself.  
Hermione was watching the fire, glass in hand. She had put down the book that she was reading and just stared at the fire. Her eyes were glazed over. It was only a few weeks into the semester, and she was already tired.  
"Hermione, are you okay?" Draco asked, pulling her from her thoughts.  
"Hmm? Oh yeah. When did you start calling me Hermione?"  
"Just now. Are you sure that you're okay? You look exhausted."  
"I always look exhausted. It's just my life. In case you haven't noticed, I'm high stress."  
"Oh, I totally noticed. I'm starting to become worried about you." Draco replied. He took a sip of his drink.  
"Please don't worry about me Draco. You've got other things to worry about."  
"Not really, my father is in prison, my mother is doing just fine on her own. She's got a therapist and what not. The only thing that concerns me is homework. Otherwise, I'm fine with life right now. I mean, there is always the possibility that I'm going to be attacked by a death eater. I have plenty of time to worry about you. And I'm going to worry about you now, just to annoy you."  
Hermione rolled her eyes, "If it gives you something to do, then go for it."  
Draco smiled, "Wonderful. Now, are you going to worry about me?"  
"Well, with Harry and Ron gone and doing their own thing with training, I guess that I now have time to worry about you. You're like number five on my worry list though."  
"Oh, and what's above me?"  
Hermione sighed, "My parents, homework, my idiots getting hurt, ministry work, and then you."  
Draco chuckled, "Glad you think so highly of me."  
"Shut up Malfoy." She replied. Hermione finished her drink and stood up, "I'm off to bed, I'm exhausted. I'll see you in the morning."  
"Goodnight Granger."  
"Goodnight Draco."  
Hermione went upstairs and got ready for bed. She stripped off her day clothes, pulled on a nightgown, and brushed her teeth. She sat down on her bed and stared at the floor. She was exhausted, this was becoming to be too much for her.  
She laid down, and let sleep engulf her, slipping into her usual nightmares.  
Draco stayed in the common room for a few more minutes. He quickly finished his drink and found himself staring at the fire. As tired as he was, he didn't want to deal with his nightmares. He knew they would be about Hermione tonight.  
He sighed and headed to his room. To would have to face his nightmares head on.  
The weeks passed by quickly. Hermione found herself swamped in homework and ministry work. She wished that they would stop sending her so many documents. She kept on top of it, but it involved late, and exhausting nights. Draco would stay up with her most nights, reading a book while she worked.  
She appreciated the company. They would often work on essays together, having almost all the same classes. Hermione usually helped Draco make up dreams for his dream journal. It was an unspoken rule between them that they wouldn't discuss their actual dreams. And Draco definitely didn't want to discuss his nightmares to his entire class. He didn't need Trelawney to tell him that he was fucked up in the head. He already knew that.  
He watched Hermione sitting at her desk. She was looking over a ministry document. They were on the verge of making a spell that would find magical muggleborns. It wouldn't restore their records, but it would detect magical blood in children. Hermione had explained the spell to him. Ministry officials would have to go from town to town, house to house, and cast it to detect any magic.  
It would be arduous, but it would also be worth it.  
Hermione was trying to figure out a way to make the spell cover more ground, so they could cover a town all at once.  
"Granger," Draco said, not looking up from his book, "Call it a night. This project of yours isn't going anywhere. It will be there in the morning, and these kids aren't going anywhere. Go to sleep Granger."  
Hermione sighed, "I feel like I'm on the verge of breaking though, but there's so much going on with these spells, that it's hurting my head."  
"Then go to bed and look at it again tomorrow."  
"Draco, I don't like going to sleep."  
"Is there a particular reason that we don't take the dreamless sleep drought?"  
"Because it's addicting." Hermione replied, putting her files back inside the folder. She opened her desk drawer and tossed them inside of it. She stood up from her desk and sighed, "I'm already a borderline alcoholic, I don't need to be a potions addict."  
Draco chuckled, "Yeah, being an alcoholic sucks. I don't suggest it."  
"George Weasley abuses the dreamless sleeping drought. It's not pretty. He seems perfectly fine in the day time while running his business, but in the evenings, he just sleeps. He prefers sleep over being awake. I don't want to be like that." Hermione said, her voice distant.  
Draco contemplated that, "That sounds awful. How is his family doing?"  
"Percy is taking it the worst. He feels like a good majority of this is his fault. Molly can't look at George anymore, she only sees Fred. She also can't look at Percy anymore, understandably."  
"Wait, how did Fred die?" Draco replied.  
Hermione looked at him, "During the battle, he pushed Percy out of the way of a falling wall, and it crushed him. Percy defected from the ministry like, right before the battle, his path to redemption."  
Draco shook his head, "It wasn't redemption Granger, and you know that, he knew that the ministry was going to fall. He chose to stand on the side of the winning team. I know this because that is what we did at the last minute. It didn't work for my father, but it worked for my mother and I."  
"George hasn't been the same. I worry about him a lot.  
Hermione would soon regret saying those words.  
McGonagall was awaken from her slumber by a screaming patronus. Auther Weasley's patronus came bursting into her bedroom at four o'clock in the morning, in a rushed voice, the Weasley shouted about how George was missing and hadn't been seen in days, they broke into his apartment and found a suicide note but no body. They needed Hermione and they needed a search of Hogwarts grounds.  
McGonagall jumped out of bed and ran to Granger's room, yelling at her to get up and get dressed quickly, George Weasley was missing.  
Hermione always like the Weasley twins, she would never admit it, but she did. They were funny and incredibly clever, especially during fifth year when they almost burned down the school just to give Umbridge a hard time. When she found out that he was missing, she threw on the first pair of jeans she could find, a tank top, and a sweatshirt. She wasn't concerned about a bra or fresh underwear. She didn't even attempt to tame her hair, there was no time.  
McGonagall did a sweep of the castle with the prefects and teachers, they had a quick briefing that George's body might be there. Meanwhile, Hermione flooed to the Weasley's house to get information. Having nothing new, she apparated to the nearest village and bought the first phonebook she could get her hands on. Sitting at the payphone, she started making her way through the hospital section of the book, starting in London.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review and leave Kudos!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This deals with George's perspective!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *TRIGGER WARNING*  
> This deals with suicide, depression, and commitment to an institution. It also deals with terrible ways to self medicate.  
> Like I said before, this story is about healing and dealing with the aftermath of a war. Everyone heals differently. Everyone deals with these issues differently. I put myself into this story, so this how I tend to deal with tragedy. I'm a relatively dark person. Told ya that this was going to be a long chapter, I thought about splitting it up, but I like the flow. Thank you for reading in advance!

A few months earlier  
George Weasley was never quiet. He was always energetic and never stayed still for more than 30 seconds. He was talkative and a smartass.  
When Fred died, he didn't speak for days. He cried silent tears and would sit on the couch in the burrow, staring at the wall. He went through the motions of living, his mind in another place.  
His siblings tried to coax him out of his silence, but he didn't want to talk. They quickly gave up. Hermione read to him, hating the silence that engulfed the burrow. She read muggle books, a story called Hamlet and another called Of Mice and Men. They were sad stories, and George was a bit glad for that. Hermione wasn't even trying to force him to be happy. He wasn't ready to smile and laugh.  
George cracked at the funeral.  
They lowered the casket into the ground and reality came rushing towards George. This was it. His other half, his companion, confidant, partner in crime, his best friend and brother, would never come back to this world. He was gone.  
And George couldn't stand it. He cried and wailed, his sorrow filling the air. Everyone was somber and looked the other way as the man who had premature laugh lines cried on his knees in the mud. Hermione was the only one to approach him and wrap her arms around his broken form.  
Molly had shed too many tears and couldn't cry anymore. Her eyes were in a permanent state of red, but she didn't cry anymore. She didn't know how to comfort her son, and let the bushy haired witch take care of him for the moment.  
The dirt on Fred's grave was pressed flat with a flick of a wand and George sat next to the headstone. Everyone left except for Hermione, who promised that she would stay for as long as she was needed. She had taken to comforting the wounded and lost. The ones who had lost too much.  
Like Dennis Creevy, who had lost so much at such a young age. He was only a fourth year. She remembered when he fell into the lake his first year crossing the lake. He had been so excited, shivering and cold yet ecstatic tiny little boy, looking smaller than he was wrapped in Hagrid's cloak.  
And Andromeda, who could do nothing but sit at her kitchen table and hold Teddy. He was her last connection to her daughter and husband. She had lost her entire family, with only grandson still with her.  
Hermione took care of them all.  
And right now, George needed her. She sat with him, protecting him from the rain when it came, and conjured a blanket when darkness fell.  
When he tired himself out, Hermione took him back to the burrow where she put him to bed and sat with him for the rest of the night.  
Two days before the present  
George held the razor in his left hand while staring at his right wrist. Pressing the blade to his skin and ran it vertically down his wrist, tracing the delicate blue vein.  
Red sticky blood pooled and trickled down his arm, dripping to the floor. It made him feel warm, and he smiled to himself watching it.  
Humming, he repeated the process on the other arm. Putting the razor behind him on the counter, he watched the blood pour from his wrists. It was mesmerizing. It felt like he had control of his life again and that he had let a scream that was buried inside his body out, finally letting go.  
He looked at the note he had left on the table. It was addressed to his mum. In it he apologized for depriving her of another son, but that she should be happy because he would be reunited with Fred. It explained how he couldn't take another day without his other half and that he would be happier this way.  
George was startled by a clatter on the ground. The razor blade that had just been on the counter was now on the other side of his kitchen floor. He tried to reason that he had knocked it onto the floor, yet he knew he hadn't. Then the pots and pans hanging from the ceiling started to rattle, crash and bang. And the cupboards and drawers opened and banged shut. It was pure noise and chaos.  
What he had done came crashing down on him. Reality set in and so did the pain. He was losing too much blood. He was panicking, and for some reason apparated to muggle London. He didn't know why, but he stumbled out of an alley and crashed right into a woman wearing white.  
"Help," he whispered, showing his wrists. Then he collapsed, splattering blood on her dress.  
Before he blacked out, he heard her scream and several shouts. They everything went dark.  
He woke up in a stark white room, in an uncomfortable bed, hooked up to a bunch of muggle machines. In the corner, attached to the ceiling was a muggle moving picture box. Harry had called it a TellyVision at one point he thought. He was disoriented, and couldn't remember what had happened.  
He looked at his arms and saw that a needle was buried in the crook of his elbow taped down. He followed the tube that was attached to the needle and found a bag hanging from a metal pole. The bag was full of blood. Then he noticed that his wrists were heavily bandaged.  
A short, portly, dark-skinned woman in blue came into the room, holding a clipboard.  
"Good, you're awake. You lost a lot of blood. My name is Kendra, I am the nurse on duty. You are at Her Majesty's Hospital in the psyche ward. You collapsed on the street yesterday afternoon. We're ruling it as an attempted suicide, unless you convince us otherwise. Do you understand everything I just said?" She chirped.  
George nodded his head.  
"We didn't know what type of blood you had, so we gave you Type O blood, that's the universal blood in case you didn't know. What is your full name?"  
"George Weasley. Where's Fred?" He asked.  
"Who is Fred?" She replied, writing on her clipboard.  
"He's my twin brother," George paused, "Oh wait. He's dead. Nevermind. I know where he is."  
The scratching of her pen against paper stopped for a moment, but then continued.  
"George, I need to ask you some questions, they might seem silly, but I have to ask anyway. Have you been hearing voices in your head?"  
George shook his head no.  
She wrote on her clipboard some more. "When is your birthday?"  
"April 1st, 1978."  
"Have you tried to kill yourself before?"  
"No, this is my first try. But I've thought about it. I've thought about since May, and I finally worked up the courage to do it. We were supposed to die together. We're twins. We did everything together." George said, tears brimming his eyes.  
Kendra's pen stopped scratching. "George, how did your brother die?"  
George thought quietly, this wasn't St. Mungos. These muggles didn't know what had happened in England. They didn't know about Voldemort or the Battle of Hogwarts, they didn't know magic existed. He'd have to lie. If there was one thing that George Weasley was good at it was lying. And this one slipped off his tongue easily.  
"A maniac set off a bomb, exploding a wall. Fred, the idiot, pushed my prat of a brother, Percy, out of the way. The the wall crushed him instead of Percy. It should have crushed Percy. Percy should have pushed Fred out of the way. I wish Percy had died instead of Fred. I think my mother wishes the same thing on occasion. I know my other brothers and my sister think the same way. We don't look at Percy unless we have to. I think he also wishes he had died instead of Fred." George rambled, his eyes staring blankly at the wall.  
The nurse stopped writing and stared at the young man in front of her. His eyes were red, and his cheeks splotchy. He looked broken.  
"Fred was my other half. I don't know if I can make it without my other half. We were supposed to die together. Death was going to be our next great adventure that we were going to take in a hundred years." George continued.  
Kendra sighed and resumed writing. She had seen a lot of things her 20 years working in the psych ward. A lot of sad, hopeless cases. People who returned time and time again. All for different reasons. But she hadn't had one like George Weasley.  
"Was Fred your identical or fraternal twin?"  
"We were identical. I can't look into a mirror anymore. I see him staring back at me. Is there a mirror in that bathroom over there? Because I can't look into it." He rattled on.  
"I'll get it covered up for you. I have one last question for you, this is a two-part question. What year is it and who is the queen of England?" Kendra asked.  
"It is 1999 and I think her name is Elizabeth." George replied.  
"Thank you, George. Because you tried to kill yourself, we are required by law to keep you here for a week for observation, unless a relative comes to collect you. Do you think we could get a hold of one of your relatives?" Kendra asked softly.  
George had a distant look in his eyes. "They're difficult to get in touch with. I'll stay a week unless Hermione figures out where I am."  
"Is Hermione your sister?"  
"She's a close family friend. She's the clever one in our group. If anyone can figure out where I am, it's her." He replied.  
"What's her last name? I'm going to put her as your emergency contact for if she calls us. That means that we can release information to her, and if she comes, we can release you to her. Do you understand?"  
"Hermione Jane Granger. Brightest witch of her age. The brains of the golden trio. Harry Potter might also figure it out. But he's rather dim. I'd expect Hermione to figure it out. If they call, tell them not to tell mum yet. I don't need my entire family in my room and I'll go to them on my own terms." He mumbled.  
Kendra let the 'brightest witch of her age' comment roll off. While she was supposed to document everything that was said, this wasn't one of those times. The man was distressed and had lost the most important person in his life. She would let this one slide. He only need anti-depressants, not anti-psychotics.  
"Thank you, if you need anything, press the button with the person on it. And the remote is connected to your bed as well. I'll come to check in on you soon."  
George nodded and laid back down, turning his head away from her.  
Kendra shook her head and left the room.  
Present Day  
Hermione finally called the right hospital for George. She was ten hospitals in, she didn't even know that London had ten hospitals.  
They told her that she could come pick him up, but that he couldn't be alone for the next few days and that she wasn't allowed to bring his family because he wasn't ready to see them yet.  
Hermione found herself apparating immediately to an alley down the street from the hospital. She marched into the building and was directed to the psych ward on the 9th floor.  
She found a short, portly, dark-skinned woman in green scrubs with a badge around her neck that said Kendra.  
"Hi, I'm here for a George Weasley." Hermione said.  
Kendra looked at her, appraising the small, bushy haired woman and huffed, "Are you Miss Hermione Granger? George said you'd be the one to figure out where he was and is expecting you. Come on, he's in the common room."  
Kendra led her into the closed off hallway, pushing in a pin number at the door. "Obviously we have to keep the door locked otherwise patients will wander around the hospital. You'll have to find a nurse to let you out when you're ready to leave."  
Hermione nodded and followed the woman down the hallway into a bright room that had tables bolted to the floor and plastic chairs. Chess boards were set up, and there were crayons and coloring sheets on some tables. Sad looking patients sat around. Hermione roamed her eyes around the room until she found the familiar shade of red hair and then the familiar face.  
"Oh George," she gasped, running to him and hugging him. She grabbed his face in between her hand. "What happened, are you okay? Your mum has been worried sick. Please don't do this again. I will get you help, there are people who help you talk this kind of stuff out. You need it." She rambled, looking him over until she came to his bandaged wrists.  
Hermione pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him. She put his hands in her lap. "Did you do this on purpose George?"  
He nodded staring into the distance, "It was the strangest thing Hermione. I was ready to go. I was ready to see Fred again. But then something threw my blade across the room, and then my kitchen went to hell and there was so much noise. And then it hurt. And I knew that he didn't want me yet. Somehow, I ended up in muggle London and woke up here. I've been here since then. I was waiting for you to figure out where I was. You are the brightest witch of your age."  
Hermione sat in silence, starring at his wrists. George followed her gaze.  
"I can't look in a mirror without seeing him. And I know mum avoids my face because she sees him. It hurts so much, but there's nothing that I can do about it. It's almost a curse to be a twin right now. He's everywhere I go."  
"You know, I was always able to tell you guys apart because you have a tiny scar on your eyebrow where hair doesn't grow. It's not that noticeable, but I noticed it. And then after that, I was able to detect your voice patterns and noticed that you guys have different shaped noses. So, you aren't a clone of him." Hermione whispered, taking his hands into hers and squeezing them.  
"You ready to go home George? We can go back to your flat for now if you're not ready to see your mum yet. I'll have to let her know that you're still alive and, but I can hold her off for only a day before she comes breaking down your door again."  
George cracked a smile, "Did she really break down my door?"  
"She threw a brick at your shop window and climbed in that way. Completely forgot about alohamora, and then she rammed her shoulder into the flat door. She's terrifying when she's scared." Hermione replied, holding back a smile. "You should have seen her throwing the brick. Harry told me about it. The entire alley had gathered around to watch the scene. Arthur was trying to look as small as possible and Bill was trying his best to reason with her."  
George actually smiled, but then he remembered the note. "What happened when she read the note?" he asked quietly.  
"She collapsed. Fleur took her back to the burrow. the boys searched your apartment. The first place they checked was Fred's room. According to Ron, it still smells like him you know? In a good way though."  
"I haven't opened that door in a year. It hurt too much to see the life in there. It was always closed. I don't think I can ever open it and empty it. Someone else will have to for me."  
Hermione nodded, "Understandable. I can do it if you need me to. It'll be hard for the rest of the family, so I can do it."  
"Thanks Hermione. So, you haven't told mum yet that I'm alive?" he asked, squeezing her hands.  
"No, I came straight here to make sure that you weren't knocking on death's door with a major gunshot wound. I was called in this morning, I flooed over to your parents' house, then went a bought a phone book and called all the hospitals. I figured that London would be the best place to start. I was going to call every hospital in Great Britain if I had to" Hermione mumbled. "Shall we head home?"  
George nodded and stood, followed by Hermione. He led her back to his room, "All I have are my clothes. I left my wand back at my flat."  
"I know, the found it in your nightstand drawer. I don't know how you managed to apparate here, but I was assuming magic under duress."  
George grabbed his pants and went into the bathroom. Hermione caught a glimpse of the sheet covering the mirror, and she wanted to hug George again.  
He came out a few minutes later wearing his jeans but still had his hospital shirt on. "My shirt is soaked in blood, they washed it, but it stained. I had them throw it away."  
Hermione nodded her head. "Come on, let's find a nurse and swim through paperwork."  
Four hours later, they were back on the streets in muggle London looking for a safe space to disapparate.  
"Hermione, can we get ice cream first? I would just get some in Diagon Alley, but like I said, I'm not ready to deal with wizards just yet."  
She nodded and led him to a sweet shop a few blocks over. With a sad look in her eyes, she mumbled, "I used to come here with my mum years ago."  
"I never asked, were you able to restore their memories?" He asked.  
"Not yet, they're still in Australia. But we're about to give up. The Australian Government has one last potion that they want to try. If it doesn't work, then we'll stop. We don't want to alter their minds and ruin them. They have good lives, so I don't want to ruin those lives." Hermione said softly, holding back that tears that threatened to fall.  
"You've been dealing with this all on your own, haven't you?" George asked, slipping his hand into hers and offering a small squeeze.  
"Well, I've become somewhat of a heavy drinker. Draco and I drink a lot now a days, chasing away our personal demons. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about that, I don't want them trying to commit me, or god forbid, get me to talk about it. Draco attempts to coax it out of me enough," Hermione grimaced.  
"You two really are head boy and girl together. What's it like?" George asked, his eyes wide.  
"It's not bad. He genuinely has changed since after the war. More depressed, cynical, only calls me mudblood jokingly, and that's when we are alone. He's one of my closest friends. We have almost all the same classes together, so we do homework together. Like I said, we get drunk together. Sometimes we sneak out and break into HoneyDukes. We try not to make a habit of it."  
George laughed, "You two break into HoneyDukes? That is rich! I never thought that I would have a new found appreciating for Malfoy."  
Hermione forced a smile, "He's not all that bad. But he's offered to put us in touch with some of his dark wizard contacts, see if they have any suggestions on what to do with my parents. I turned him down. I've had enough of dark wizards for this lifetime."  
George chuckled, "Well you haven't had enough of that dark wizard."  
Hermione ignored him, and continued on, "You know, he mellowed out as the years went by, and even if everything was normal and we didn't have to fight Voldemort, we'd still be head boy and girl together."  
George gave a good, long, laugh, "You can tell me Granger, have you guys fucked yet?"  
Hermione's face lit up red, "George! No! We have not!"  
He shrugged, "Well you haven't fucked my brother in a while, I know you are too busy to fuck someone else, so you're going to end up fucking him. All Head Boys and Girls end up having sex. It's practically and unspoken rule of being head boy and girl together. Don't worry, I won't tell when it happens." He winked.  
Hermione blushed, "How the hell do you know this?"  
"I lived on the wrong side of the proverbial tracks. I spent time with the low lives, and I spent time in trouble. Word gets around. You just always kept your nose out of the gossip and had it stuck in a book."  
Hermione chuckled as they ordered ice cream and she sent Molly a patronus, letting her know that George would see her tomorrow. George did his best to convince her that she would sleep with Draco eventually, and then bet her on it.  
"Ten Galleons says that you sleep with him by April. You don't have to tell anyone except me that you slept with him, but I be you ten galleons that you guys will do the dirty by April." He said, a trying to stifle his laugh.  
"I completely digress, I think you're fucking with me, but I will take that bet. I will NOT sleep with him at all this entire school year," she replied, also struggling to hold back a laugh. These weren't the kinds of things that she would usually talk about, but if it made George happy, then she would step out of her comfort zone.  
When they finished their ice cream, she apparated them to George's store, quickly ducked inside, trying to avoid anyone seeing them. Ultimately only one person saw them, but they quickly spread the word. She led him up to his flat above the store.  
"Well, this is your stop," she said, smiling, "Do you want me to stay over tonight? I'll sleep on the couch, I don't want to leave you alone, and I don't want your mother over here screaming."  
"I was just about to ask you to stay. Come on, let's make some cocoa, and maybe do a puzzle or read a book. I should really get a tellyvision. But they don't play quidditch games."  
Hermione watched him unlock the door with a password.  
"You know what George, they should make televisions for wizards. Wizards have let muggles best them and advance over them. We have moving pictures, but said moving pictures are not the same as a live sport. I should propose that to the ministry."  
He smiled, "That would be wonderful. And if anyone can get it done, it would be you."  
Hermione glanced around the room and saw that nobody had bothered to clean up the dry blood. "Shit," she muttered to herself.  
George sighed, "Damn it, I would have hoped that would be gone. Granger, not that you're my house elf of anything, will you get that for me? I don't want to deal with it. It's an example of my failure."  
Hermione nodded and pointed her wand at the spot, "Scourgify."  
"Thank you," George said, walking to the cabinet and pulling out two mugs, "you're easy to be with Granger. I mean, you're always stressed, but you usually keep it to yourself, unless it Ron and Harry who are stressing you out. You're easy to talk to."  
"Thank you, George. I'll never confirm that you said this, but you are an easy person to talk to, I feel comfortable with you."  
George stared at her and put down the mugs, he reached into a higher up cabinet and pulled out a half bottle of firewhiskey, "'Mione, what do you say we get drunk, lower our inhibitions, sleep together, and then pretend nothing happened in the morning? Indulge me and I'll go do whatever therapy suggestion that you have, no arguments."  
Hermione smiled, "That actually sounds perfect. Completely reckless, but perfect. So, you're going to have sex with me before Draco does?"  
He pulled down two whiskey tumblers and filled them to four fingers. He passed her one, "Yep. You haven't been touched in months, and I'm too depressed to go out and find a partner. We're a perfect match. Both fucked up and needin love"  
Hermione stifled back a giggle as she began to drink her alcohol. "Way to be blunt Weasley."  
"Way to laugh at my pain Granger." He replied, downing half of his drink in one gulp.  
It didn't take many drink to get her into his bed that night. She would never admit it if you asked, but when he put the offer on the table, she wanted it badly.  
When he kissed her, it felt nice. Not awe inspiring, earth shattering, or amazing. But nice, and nice was good enough for now. She was lonely, and while they didn't need this, it was, again, nice.  
Things progressed quickly from there, and their clothes were quickly discarded in a trail that led to George's room. George laid her down gently on the bed and kissed her neck. Hermione moaned.  
It went by slowly, and Hermione was okay with that. George held one of her hands above her head, his fingers interlaced with hers, his other hand caressed her hip. Hermione let out soft moans, her other hand on his back, her nails digging into his shoulders.  
For a few moments, their troubles forgotten, they were lost in each other. Hermione pushed the thoughts of her parents out of her head, her relationship with Draco, and all of her homework and ministry work.  
George managed to get rid of the emptiness that was inside of him from the loss of his other half. Just for the night though.  
When they finished, they fell asleep, George holding Hermione in his arms. And they stayed like that until the next morning, neither of them having dreams.  
Molly Weasley was banging on George's front door at 7 in the morning, with a hard, solid fist, waking them from their slumber.  
George sat up and groaned, "Well, time to face my mother. Go pick up your clothes and get dressed. You can floo back to Hogwarts."  
Hermione made to get out of bed, but George grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. She looked him over. His waist was still covered by the blanket, he was ripped from fit. His face held a certain vulnerability, and his lips looked soft.  
"Granger, seriously, you are perfect in every way. Thank you, so much, for getting me out of there, and helping me seek help. You are a pioneer, and you are amazing. I wish things could be different, but they're not. Also, owl me as soon as you sleep with Malfoy." His eyes twinkled.  
Hermione let out a loud laugh, then pressed her lips to his for a quick, chaste kiss, "Shut up Weasley." She swung her legs out of bed and left the room, pulling her clothes on as she followed the trail, and picking up George's, throwing them into a pile behind the bookshelf so Mrs. Weasley wouldn't see them.  
She opened the door as soon as she finished buttoning her shirt, "Good morning Molly, George will be out in a few minutes. Give him some time. Come in, and I'll make a cuppa."  
Molly entered the flat and looked around. Arthur, Ginny, Bill, Charlie, Ron, Harry, and Fleur all followed behind her, in that order. Hermione picked up the glasses, took them to the kitchen, and started a pot of tea.  
It took George a few minutes to get out of bed and to get dressed. He took a deep breath before leaving his bedroom, and facing his mum.  
"Morning Mum," he said quietly. "Morning everyone else."  
Molly started to cry, and ran to him, engulfing him in a large hug.  
"Molly, I love you, but please don't attack your son like that," Hermione called from the kitchen, "He's in a delicate place."  
Molly quickly let go of her son and looked him over. He was wearing a t-shirt and his bandages could be clearly seen.  
"Georgie, why would you do this?" She whimpered. The rest of George's family looked away in shame. Hermione sighed, and started to pull out the tea mugs, waving her wand to get them down quicker. She made tea and sent them out into everyone's hand.  
Grabbing a cup for herself and George she approached Molly.  
"Molly, again, I love you, but George isn't comfortable talking to us. He's severely depressed. I'm going to get him help. He needs understanding. So let's just have a cup of tea, talk about random things, and when I get back to Hogwarts, I'll have Draco give me his mum's therapist's information. Then we're going to make an appointment for George."  
Arthur stiffened at the mentioning of Draco's name, "Since when do you talk about him so freely?"  
"Since he and I began working closely together." Hermione replied nonchalantly.  
Bill and Charlie stifled their laughs as they looked at George, "Has she fucked him yet?" Charlie choked out, trying to keep a straight face.  
"According to her, they haven't. She and I have a bet," George roared with laughter.  
Molly rolled her eyes and took a sip of her tea. She sat down on the couch, "how are you guys making sex jokes at a stressful time like this?"  
Hermione sat down next to her, "Because it currently makes him happy. Our goal is to get him through the next few days, simply day by day. We should put a sign on the door advertising sporadic hours for the shop, and that it's a family emergency."  
Molly nodded, "Okay. I don't like this Hermione. I don't like it at all."  
George sat down between Charlie and Bill, while they usually didn't play favorites, these two were the closest to Fred's personality as he would get to, Ron didn't find the same jokes funny.  
Charlie leaned over to him, "Tell me the truth George, did you and Granger? Last night?"  
George rolled his eyes, "Not that it's your business, but yes. Keep it to yourselves. Ron would freak out."  
Bill laughed.  
The next few minutes were filled with awkwardness, and Hermione looked at the time. She sighed, "you guys, I need to get out of here I have class. George probably wants some time to himself. I'll get him an appointment. You can visit him later. One at a time."  
She approached George and kneeled down, ignoring everyone else in the room. "George, I am a simple owl away. Just send for me if you need me. I will drop everything and come for you. Understand?"  
George nodded, "Thank you 'Mione, for everything."  
She forced a smile, "Goodbye George." She stood up and kissed his cheek. She looked around, "Remember everyone, give George his space. If he wants to talk, he will talk."  
With that, she walked over to the fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo, and sent herself to McGonagall's office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of myself is being put into this fic. This is how I respond to tragedy.  
> Please review and leave Kudos! (Be nice pretty please)  
> See y'all soon!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of a filler chapter. Obvs some OTP magic going on; but the true Dramione OTP is going to happen soon. I see this series as a way to get back in on my smut abilities. I'm going to edit it down when I get there. So the next few chapters are going to essentially be NC-17, (i won't tell if you're under 17 3). Review, favorite, follow!

McGonagall looked up from her desk, "Did you find him? Is everything okay?'  
"Yes, I found him. He was at a muggle hospital, in the psychiatric ward. Right now, we're trying to keep Molly from suffocating him. Bill and Charlie will be his best friends for the next few days. I'll go get ready for classes."  
"Miss Granger, go to sleep. I've excused you from your classes for the day. I had your professors excuse you yesterday as well. You've had a stressful day. Mister Malfoy knows that you will not be on rounds with him."  
Hermione nodded, "Thank you Headmistress. I'll get to bed."  
McGonagall forced a smile, "I'm glad that he's alright. What's the next step?"  
"Draco's mom has a therapist. Apparently, she specializes in Wizards and went to a muggle medical school. She's a witch."  
McGonagall nodded, "Good. Goodnight Miss Granger."  
Hermione took that as a dismissal, and left her office. A few students were starting to get out of bed and down to breakfast. A few ghosts were wandering around. It was Collin's ghost that stopped her, Hermione held back her tears so he could talk.  
"Is it true? That George went missing?" Collin asked, worry clear in his voice.  
"Yeah, but we found him. He's as okay as he can be right now. Ginny will be back tomorrow. She'll have more information."  
Collin nodded, "Okay, good. He's a good guy. I don't want him hurt."  
Hermione sniffled, "me neither."  
Hermione sped walked to her room, holding back her tears. While it felt nice to get rid of all her stresses for one night, they quickly returned. On top of that, Collin always made her cry. That's why he kept his conversations with her short. She appreciated it. Maybe in a few years, she could have a long, deep conversation with him.  
She ducked into the common room and found Draco reading the newspaper in his sleep pants and a pair of fuzzy slippers.  
He took one look at her and smirked, "How was the sex Granger?"  
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Draco, I need your mom's therapist's name and information. George needs someone to talk to, outside of his family."  
"Well, he sure as hell didn't do any talking to you last night."  
She groaned. "Draco, please."  
"I'll write it down for you later today, and I'll owl her, and tell her to expect you to contact her. Now, how was the sex Hermione?"  
She sighed again, "It was nice Draco, if that makes you shut up, it was nice. How did you figure it out?"  
He smirked, "Well, it's easy to see that you are super relaxed relaxed. That tends to happen when you've had a good fuck. I mean, you're going to be all stressed out tomorrow, but at least you had a bit of fun. And I spend A LOT of my time with you, more than I thought would ever be possible. You have the post-coital glow, and your hair is the most unruly I've seen in the entirety of our relationship."  
She shook her head and headed upstairs, "Goodnight Malfoy. I'll see you later."  
"Goodnight Granger! I'll collect your homework for you! I collected yesterday's as well!"  
The next few months came and went by with minimal excitement. Hermione got George on the track to recovery, the therapist was a godsend. She almost sent Narcissa a fruit basket for finding this woman. Hermione spent the majority of her time at Hogwarts. The ministry didn't need her as much as before, and she wasn't going to ask for more work when she had NEWTS steadily coming up.  
It was approaching Christmas time, and the decorations around the castle were going up. Hermione didn't know it, but there had been no decorations the year before. The remaining members of Dumbledore's Army kept hexing the decorations to punish the Slytherins and Carrow siblings.  
The teachers went all out this year, adding beards and St. Nicholas hats to all the suits of armor. They put up the Christmas trees, charmed the mistletoe, and tinsel went up everywhere.  
It had been snowing outside for the past few days. Hermione found herself out for a few hours at a time almost daily, just enjoying the snow. Last year, they didn't really celebrate Christmas. They did visit James and Lily's graves. And then they fought Voldemort's snake. But she didn't want to count that as a good Christmas, or even celebrating Christmas.  
She was relishing the moment.  
As Hermione and Draco walked to Transfiguration, working on the schedules for the prefects for the upcoming semester, they became stuck in the doorway.  
"Shit," Hermione whispered, glancing up. They were trapped under the charmed mistletoe. They wouldn't be allowed to leave until they kissed.  
Hermione looked at Draco and blushed. Draco looked down at the pink-cheeked witch and smirked.  
"We're not getting out of here unless you let me kiss you. And if you protest, then we're just going to be late. Nobody is here to see it. So, what do you say?" He asked hiding his smug expression.  
Hermione groaned as Draco let out a deep chuckle. He ducked his head down and gave her a chaste kiss.  
They could instantly feel the hex lift off of them. Blushing, Hermione scurried away, practically sprinting to class as Draco casually followed behind her. He smirked at her reaction.  
He admitted to himself that he was attracted to the small and smart witch.  
Hermione sighed, looking at the fireplace.  
"Something wrong Granger?" Draco asked inquisitively.  
"Not really, I just don't really have anywhere to go this Christmas. I mean, yeah I could go to the Weasleys' house, but I don't want to deal with Ron this year. I see George regularly, and he really doesn't need me this year. He's been doing very well. Obviously, my parents are out of the question. They're still in Australia. The ministry has been working with the Australian Parliament to restore their memories. The prognosis isn't looking too great," she sighed. "I think I'm just going to stay here this year."  
Draco sighed, "Do you want me to stay with you? I really don't want to go home either. Usually we have a Christmas party, but I doubt anyone will come this year. And even if they did, I don't want to deal with them. My house will be empty and lonely. I can only deal with my mother for so long. It's awful."  
Hermione looked up, "Are you sure Draco? I don't want you to miss out on your holiday just to spend time with me. I'm not the best of company."  
"Hermione, it's fine. I'd rather spend my time here than at home. I don't like going home anymore, I genuinely hate my house. It's too drab, and dreary. It has too many bad memories."  
"Thank you, Draco. I appreciate it. Goodness, now I have to find a present for you."  
Draco chuckled, "I would say you don't have to, but I know you'll do it either way. So I'm in the same quandary. Just, not one of those awful hats you used to knit."  
Hermione laughed loudly, "Oh, now I'm definitely going to make one of those!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super short, compared to the last chapter. I know. But the next two chapters are gonna be hella steamy, it's going to be awesome! Review, follow, favorite! Be nice please! Thank's for tuning in!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said a few authors notes ago, I put myself into these stories, so those who are familiar with actual mental illness, Hermione is going to get a diagnosis (i'm deciding on which one, I have many that would work for her). She's been too much to not have been affected. So while her self-destructive habits are very prevalent, she will get help in later chapters, I promise. This is a story about healing. Next chapter is like, 100% smut. Review and leave Kudos!

Hermione didn't know what had come over her. She was assuming that it was the holiday season. She would be alone at Hogwarts without her family, and most importantly, without her friends. She just couldn't deal with the Weasleys this year. Maybe next year. She was starting to feel alone and sad all the time. Morose would be a good word to describe her mood.  
But it was comforting that Draco would be staying with her. She looked up from her book. He was sitting in his arm chair also reading.  
Draco yawned, and looked up. He gave her a faint smile. "You okay Hermione?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess."  
Draco scrunched his nose, "Fine? Hermione, you don't look fine. You look stressed."  
"Don't worry about it Draco. I'm fine."  
"Hermione Jane Granger, you are not fine. You look miserable."  
"Draco, please. I'm fine. Don't worry about it."  
"Hermione, your mental health concerns me. If you're not doing well mentally, then it's harder on you to do your job. Talk to me please."  
Hermione slammed her book shut, "Draco! I am fine!"  
She stood up and marched to her door. Draco stood up quickly and followed her up the stairs to her door.  
"Granger we need to talk about this. You are not doing fine!"  
Hermione whispered her password and opened the door. "I am handling everything perfectly fine, thank you very much Ferret."  
She slammed the door in Draco's face and slid against the door, crying.  
"Hermione, please open this door." He said softly, his forehead resting on the door. "I'm just worried. I just want to help you."  
"Draco, go away!" Hermione said, her voice cracking as she started to cry.  
"Hermione, please!"  
Hermione stopped responding as the tears slid silently down her face. Draco kept his forehead against the door, "Hermione, I just want to help you. Please, just let me help. You were perfectly fine last week, and now you feel awful, something is going on. Just let me help you help yourself."  
Hermione sniffled and started to get ready for bed. Draco stayed by the door for a few more minutes before deciding that it was time to call it a night. "Hermione, if you need me, just come knock on my door. Please, I just want to help." And with that he left her door and headed to his bedroom.  
It was two in the morning and Draco was still awake, reading a muggle book that Hermione had suggested. He had been staring at the page for the past ten minutes, not absorbing the material. He was too focused on Hermione to read.  
There then came a soft knock on the door. "Draco," a soft, feminine voice called out.  
Draco put down the book he had been reading, and padded over to the door.  
Opening it, he found a teary, terrified, busy haired witch looking up at him. She had on an old muggle shirt that went past her thighs, Draco assumed she was wearing some form of shorts, but he wasn't sure.  
He himself, only had on a pair of green, silk pajama bottoms, no shirt.  
"Hermione, what's wrong?" he asked, moving to the side to let her in.  
Hermione sniffled and sat on the bed, "Can I just stay here tonight? The nightmares are too much for me to handle by myself tonight. I don't want to have sex, or anything affectionate. I just don't want to be alone again."  
Draco sighed, "Of course." He closed the door and walked over to her.  
Hermione sniffled again, and looked at the floor. "Ron once left us while we were on the run. Not many people know that. But he up and abandoned us. He eventually came back, but I was so lonely during those weeks. Harry is a good friend, but I always saw Ron as a possibility."  
Draco sat next to her, and let her speak.  
"People often ask me, 'Why aren't you and the young Weasley boy together.' And it is so hard for me to tell them the real reason. I just say career differences, or it didn't work. But the truth is, he's going to end up leaving again. He left me when we needed him in the woods, and I know that he would leave me again, when the going gets tough. He's been there for Harry, but he always saw me as the annoying girl. He only started to notice me as an actual female in sixth year. I mean, he noticed me when he was desperate for a date in fourth year, but then he forgot about me. There were times in school, that he was meaner to me than you were."  
Draco wanted to comfort her with a well-timed shoulder squeeze. But he wasn't used to that kind of affection. Slytherin students didn't often cuddle, or show affection unless it was romantic. It wasn't in their nature. It was considered a sign of weakness. Draco sighed.  
Hermione made the decision for him. She rested her head on his shoulder, almost using him as a pillow. "I'm just so sad all the time Draco. And I don't know how to react to it. I don't have the proper coping skills needed to process this. It's frustrating."  
Draco wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "It's going to be okay Hermione. Let's get you into bed, and we'll talk about this in the morning."  
Hermione nodded and laid down in Draco's bed. She was enveloped in his smell. Draco climbed in next to her, and pulled the blankets over them.  
"Do you want to cuddle or something? I don't know how to react to this situation." Draco said quietly. He flicked his wand and turned off the light.  
"No, I'm fine right here. I don't want to be touched right now."  
"Okay, I just wanted to check." Draco replied.  
"Thank you for asking. It drives me insane when people touch me without asking. It makes me claustrophobic."  
Draco forced a smile, and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep quickly.  
Hermione laid still for a few minutes, until she fell asleep. It felt good to talk, but she'd have to talk more in the morning. And she wasn't sure if she was ready for that conversation with Draco.  
Draco was awakened by the sound of a slamming door. He jerked up and looked around for Hermione. Her side of the bed was rumpled, so he knew that he hadn't dreamed it. The door slam and the loud footsteps down the stairs confirmed that she had been there.  
He sighed and crawled out of bed, pulling together some clothes to take a shower. If he got ready fast enough, he might be able to catch her before breakfast.  
After showering, getting dressed, and brushing his teeth, Draco quickly made his way downstairs only to catch a glimpse of the bushy haired witch, slamming the portrait behind her.  
"Fuck," he whispered to himself. Then he saw a note on his chair with his name on it, written in Hermione's neat handwriting.  
Groaning to himself, he opened the note and began reading.  
Dear Draco,  
Thank you for listening last night. Please don't bring it up again. I'll see you in class.  
~Hermione  
The note made Draco furious. How dare she, these were things that needed to be talked about, Hermione can't just bottle them up like that.  
He crumbled the note in his hand and threw it in the fireplace, not bothering to watch it turn to ash.  
Grabbing his book bag, he stalked over to the painting, opened it, crawled through it, and gingerly closed it behind him. Just because Hermione was overreacting didn't mean he should disrespect the painting.  
He made it way down to the Great Hall.  
Hermione was eating quickly at the Gryffindor table. Ginny tried to engage her in a conversation but gave up after a few tries. Obviously, Hermione didn't want to talk.  
Her toast was dry, and her eggs tasted wrong. But she needed the food. From the corner of her eye, she watched the door, waiting to see when Draco would come in, so she could get out of there quickly.  
He arrived five minutes after she showed up, he headed towards his table to sit down, only to notice that Hermione was about to leave. Hermione quickly finished her eggs, stood up, and practically ran to the door.  
This infuriated Draco, who stood up, grabbed an apple to go, and stormed after her.  
"Granger! No! Don't you walk away from me! This conversation isn't finished!" Draco shouted, marching towards her from across the grand hall.  
"Yes, it is Malfoy!" She yelled back, towards the doors.  
Draco's legs were longer than hers and he reached her before she reached the door. Grabbing her upper arm, he leaned in close and whispered, "You know damn well, that this conversation isn't over."  
Hermione could feel everyone staring at them, their eyes boring into them. Students were starting to mummer to each other, and the teachers, she could hear them direct their questions to McGonagall. This kind of behavior was unbecoming of the head boy and girl.  
"Fine, we can finish this 'conversation' this evening. Better?" Hermione hissed.  
Draco's grip on her arm lessened, "Better. See you tonight."  
Draco released her arm, and left the great hall, leaving her stunned. He took a bite of his apple as he stalked away.  
Hermione scrunched her nose, and followed him. This was the problem of having almost all the same classes, they would be seeing each other almost, all day.  
As soon as the last bell rang, Hermione collected her items and ran to hide in the library. Draco rolled his eyes and collect his things slowly. There was no point in chasing after her, she could find dozens of hidey holes in the library and he would never find her.  
He instead returned to the common room where he sat for hours.  
Eventually Crookshanks jumped up into his lap, and curled up. Draco was absentmindedly petting the cat, and the cat was purring.  
A creak from the painting came, and Draco looked towards her bushy head as Hermione stepped into the common room. She glanced over at Draco and Crookshanks.  
"Traitor," she mumbled to herself as the painting closed behind her. She placed her bag on her desk and walked over to the kitchenette to start herself a pot of tea. She ignored Draco for the time being, tapping the kettle with her wand, and preparing a cup with sleeping herbs.  
"Do you want a cup Draco? I'm making it essentially a dreamless sleeping drought. But it's not addicting. Fleur, you remember her? She sent it to me. I'm assuming that after this conversation, I'm going to need a dreamless sleep." She asked quietly. Hermione was actively making sure that her voice was stabilized.  
"Yes, please. I'll take one Hermione. I'm probably going to need it too. Look, last-"  
"Stop, not until I'm sitting down. These are things that I don't even talk about with Harry and Ron. We don't talk about those times. They're too painful."  
"Which is why I want to talk to you about that time. They were painful for me too."  
Hermione took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "How were they painful for you Malfoy? Did you have MUDBLOOD carved into your arm by a psychotic prison escapee?"  
"No," Draco growled, "But I was branded with a dark mark that will be prominently displayed on my forearm for the rest of my life by a psychotic snake," he ripped up his sleeve to show her. "I've killed quite a few people Granger, I've also been tortured, and I've watched my loved ones die. I think we're pretty even in how shitty our war experiences were. Finish those cups, sit, and let's talk this out. I have things that need to be said."  
Hermione swallowed, finished making the cups, waved her wand, sent one to Draco, then she went and took the seat across from him.  
"Well, let's get this over with, I want to get into bed so that I can cry myself to sleep." Hermione said, taking a sip from her tea.  
Draco took a sip from his cup as well, and readjusted his posture. Crookshanks, not like being disturbed, jumped off his lap, and the cat strutted towards Hermione's room.  
"I'm sorry. First and foremost, I am sorry for everything. For being a pretentious dick to you through our entire Hogwarts career. I wanted to be friends with you first year, but my father told me not to fraternize with anyone outside of Slytherin until my second year. And when I told him about you, he was so angry that I was coming in second, behind a muggleborn. I took my anger out on you, I'm sorry. That night at the manor, I wish I could go back, and try to stop that madness." Draco said, his volume decreasing as he spoke, until the words only came out as a whisper.  
"There's nothing that you could have done. You took a great risk by not telling them that it was Harry," Hermione said softly.  
Draco looked up sharply, "You're screams haunt my dreams. I dream about that night, at least, two times a week. Then I have rotating dreams about the Room of Requirement, Dumbledore's death, and just generic 'Lord Voldy is playing tea party in my dining room.' And I can't help but think, could this have been avoided? Could I have done MORE, to help you three idiots, could this all have been prevented?"  
"What would you have done Draco? You were sixteen, you were ill equipped."  
"Where do you think you got that Basalisk information, Hermione? You don't think that it just, magically appeared, did you? That kind of information isn't usually found in the public section of the library." Draco said with a smirk, taking a sip of his tea. "I wanted to do more, but I didn't. And I regret that.  
Hermione choked on her tea, and sputtered, spilling half of it on herself. She stood up, and walked back to the kitchenette. Reaching into the top cabinet, she pulled out a bottle of fire whisky and took a shot.  
"Change of plans, need a shot?" she forced out, pour another shot for herself, her hands shaking.  
Draco stood and in three, large strides, was standing behind her. He reached around and placed his hands on hers, steadying them.  
"Hermione, your drinking habits are starting to worry me."  
"Well, Draco, I really don't care right now. I had a hell of a time in the war, I have NOBODY to talk to, yes, that includes my two idiot boys! They are too preoccupied with their aurora training, and pretending that everything is better now. AND, I just got word from the ministry that the memory charm on my parents is irreversible! I did TOO good of a job! I think I'm allowed to drink as much as I want to right now!" Hermione shouted, turning around and facing him. "My life sucks right now Draco! The only thing I have going for me is being Head Girl at Hogwarts."  
Hermione started to cry. She hid her face in her hands, and her shot glass was knocked to the ground, shattering.  
"This is why I don't like to talk about this stuff Malfoy. I'd prefer to just keep it bottled." She whispered, hiccupping randomly.  
Draco sighed, "Do you need a hug?"  
Hermione nodded.  
Draco surpised himself when he wrapped his arms around her frail body and pulled her close. He rested his chin on top of her head, "It's going to be okay, Hermione. We're going to get you through this."  
"How do you know that I'm going to get through this? What If I don't even want this anymore?"  
Draco took another deep breath, "You're not going to kill yourself. Because if you do, I will find you in the afterlife, and kick your scrawny, Gryffindor princess ass. You're going to get through this school year. You really need to talk to the therapist Hermione, you know that's she's amazing. Hermione, I'm only going to say this once, and I will deny it if you ever tell anyone that I said it. You are the reason that Voldemort was defeated. Not the Chosen One Potty, you. If it weren't for you, that babbling buffoon wouldn't have figured anything out."  
Hermione sniffled. Draco continued.  
"And if I'm being honest," his volume dropped, and his tone went husky, "I'm glad you beat him. I found his cause unappealing. I didn't like torturing people, or killing them, and since fifth year, I haven't bought into that blood purity. My father always told me that muggleborns were dirty blood, and their blood was black. But when your hand was bleeding from the lines Umbridge had you do, I saw that he lied to me. Your blood was as red as mine, as full of magic as my blood, and nothing made sense anymore."  
Hermione couldn't help herself, she looked up and found him close to her. Less than three inches away from her, he was so tall and imposing. She could feel his breath on her lips. But she was seeing the softer, rarely seen side of Draco. He looked so vulnerable at that point. She couldn't help herself.  
Standing on her toes to close the height gap, Hermione closed her eyes and pressed her lips against Draco's. He didn't hesitate to return her kiss. His right arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her as close to his body as possible. His left hand went up to her hair and tangled in the mass of curls, keeping her head close to his.  
For a moment, the earth stood still.  
This kiss felt more than nice to Hermione, it felt wonderful, awe-inspiring, earth shaking, and it felt completely right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is 100% smut, it isn't crucial to the story, I just want to hone my smut abilities.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo Yo Yo my readers! Whatz Up? 100% FUCKING SMUT UP NEXT! THIS IS JUST LIKE, PURE SEX! LIKE THE KIND YOU RUB ONE OFF TO KIND OF STUFF! IF YOU ARE A VIRGIN EYED PERSON, DO NOT READ! THIS IS NOT CRUCIAL TO THE PLOT! ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW IS THAT THEY FUCKED LIKE BUNNIES! THAT IS ALL THIS CHAPTER IS; SEX! IF YOU ARE A DIRTY MFer LIKE ME, THIS IS PERFECTION!  
> Again, self destructive behaviors that eventual lead to healing! (I'm posting this in the dead of night around my bedtime, cause that's when the naughty things happen ;) )  
> Enjoy!

He had thought about this moment non-stop since first year. Kissing her, tasting her smart mouth, and claiming her as his own.  
Hermione was lost in the moment. Few thoughts went through her head. They included, "Draco is such a good kisser," "What am I doing?" and "Please don't stop."  
Draco had a mantra going through his head, it was, "Please don't pull away."  
And she didn't. Draco was the first to break the kiss. He came out of it huffing for breath. After taking ten seconds to catch his breath and look down at the bushy haired witch, her flushed cheeks, bruised lips, and still closed eyes, he captured her lips again. This witch was his, and if he could, he would marry this muggleborn and proudly ruin his strong, pureblood family name.  
They continued for a few more minutes, taking breaks to breath. After the third air break, Hermione whispered, "Are we just going to kiss, or are we going to take this into one of our rooms?"  
Draco groaned, his member, already stiff from kissing the genius witch, twitched at the thought of being buried inside of her. "That is up to you Granger. Do you want to take this to my bedroom or not?"  
Hermione thought for a few seconds, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Please, Draco. Take me to your room."  
Draco practically growled, swooped her up in his arms, and carried her to his room bridal style. He was planning on ravaging her, mind, body, and soul. He wanted to hear his name leave her lips, for her to scream it.  
He walked up the stairs to his room, kicked open the door, and gently laid her on his bed. While he planned to ravage her, he still wanted her to feel good. For her to reach her climax many times over. For her to beg him for more.  
He climbed on top of her, and rested his weight on his forearms. Starting at her lips, he kissed her gently, then left her lips to move to her neck, where he nuzzled her neck. He pressed his lips to her neck, then gently nibbled on it. He wanted to force her to glamour her neck.  
Hermione's hands drifted down to Draco's chest. She untied his tie and left it hanging around his neck. Starting at the top button, she began the arduous task of unbuttoning his shirt, from his neck to his waist.  
Draco's body shuddered as her fingers brushed against his abs. Hermione was almost surprised at his physic, she hadn't paid attention until just now, then she remembered, Quidditch. The boys were ripped from quidditch, and Ginny had a six pack and large biceps from the intense sport.  
She yanked Draco's shirt out of his waist band.  
"Fuck," he groaned against her neck.  
Hermione smiled to herself, taking pride in his reaction. She kept on waiting to second guess herself, to suddenly wake up from this trance of making out with Draco fucking Malfoy. To stop herself. Her worst enemy from years gone by, making her feel good with his mouth. Yet she didn't wake up. She'd be lying to herself if she said that she hadn't been interested in this before. She had fantasized about this in the comfort of her own bed many times, her fingers taking her to the high. She imagined them to be Draco's fingers.  
Her infatuation with him started when she overheard a couple of Slytherins and a Ravenclaw discussing his size and girth. And how he brought them to their high and pushed them over the edge. Thus, began fantasies.  
And now, she was living them.  
Draco felt feral. He pulled back from her lips and gave her a once over. His shirt was hanging off of his shoulders. Draco yanked off his shirt, balancing his weight on each of his forearms one at a time.  
Hermione glanced at his forearm, the dark mark black against his pale skin. His arms almost never saw the light of day, preferring to hide his shame. Draco sighed when he saw her gazed and moved to get off of her. Hermione grabbed his wrist and kept him on top of her.  
"You are a child when it happened," she whispered. She traced the mark delicately with her finger tips, "It is nothing more than just a terrible memory now." She looked up at him, "Don't let it define you. You have changed so much since you got this mark."  
Draco captured her lips with his again. This is why he adored her, she was perfect, understanding, and simply incredible.  
Then he practically ripped Hermione's clothes off. The buttons of her shirt popped off, her tie developed a bit of a tear. He helped her maneuver her body from underneath him and remove her shirt. Draco discarded it to somewhere to the right of him.  
Hermione was left laying in her school skirt, and a lacy, black, push-up bra. She hadn't been planning on showcasing her lingerie today. But it was close to laundry day and all she had left were her pretty undergarments.  
Draco drank in the sight. He wanted to see more. Finding the zipper on the right side of her skirt, he pulled it down, then shimmied the skirt over her hips and onto her thighs. Hermione managed to push it the rest of the way off with a combination of her hands and feet.  
Unintentionally, she wore a matching set of lingerie. She was half asleep when she got dressed that morning, and found apparently grabbed her black set of fancy undergarments that Ginny insisted on her buying, saying that one day she would need them.  
Draco sat back and drank in the sight of Hermione's body. Unbeknownst to him, Hermione worked out a lot. She usually went running three times a week, and did yoga four times a week. She was toned, with a flat stomach, narrow hips, and perky breasts.  
Hermione's skin went flush, Draco had been staring at her for a more than thirty seconds.  
"Draco, I know I'm not the prettiest-"  
He silenced her with his lips, "Hermione, Jane, Granger," he whispered in between kisses, "You are gorgeous, I was admiring the sights. Shut up, stop doubting your beauty, and enjoy the moment"  
He attacked her neck again, and then moved down to trace his lips against the exposed flesh of her breast. His right hand reached under her body and undid her bra in one swift motion. He pulled it off of her and threw it somewhere in his room.  
His lips continued their journey to her nipples, which were hardening in the chill air of his bedroom. He gently sucked on her left nipple, and pulled on it with his teeth.  
Hermione took a sharp breath. Draco relished in her noises. He started to work on the other nipple, and was a little bit rougher. Hermione let out a loud moan. Draco started to suck on her nipple. One of his hands went to her thigh and started to caress it, his thumb dipping into her inner thigh.  
Hermione's hands roamed on his chest, delicately tracing his abs. Her hands dipped down to his pants, and traced the sensitive flesh that was right above his waist.  
Draco buried his head in between her breasts, "Fuck. Granger you're going to be the end of me." He looked up at her, "Once you remove my pants, I will probably be unable to stop himself. Understood?"  
"Completely. Take off your pants. I want you inside of me." Hermione said breathlessly.  
Draco quickly undid his belt, button and zipper. He ripped off his pants and boxers. His manhood was fully exposed. Hermione glanced down at it. He was huge. And she wanted him buried inside her to the hilt.  
Draco looked over her body once more and pulled down her panties. She was trimmed, not shaved bare, but trimmed and neat. Draco slid down the bed until he was eye level with her pink, wet pussy. He spread her thighs apart further so he could see her better.  
Softly, he kissed her thighs. Hermione's body jerked, and her hands went to his head. Draco stopped and sat up.  
"Miss Granger, you will be at my mercy. Are you going to lay still, or do I need to tie you up?"  
Blood rushed to her nether region, and her face flushed at the idea of being completely at Draco's mercy.  
"Please, Draco. I won't be able to be still for you, gods, to be at your mercy," Hermione moaned.  
Draco scrambled off her, and grabbed his tie off of the ground.  
Climbing back onto her body, he wrapped his tie around her wrists, and attached it to the headboard. He tugged on her wrists to check on the strength of the knot. It held fast.  
He returned to her pussy, and licked the inside of thigh, going up to the lips of her vagina, and tracing them delicately with the tip of his tongue.  
Hermione squeaked, and tried to move her hands. It turned on her on to be solely at Draco's mercy. Her pelvis arched and she tried to thrust into his mouth. Draco's forearm came slamming down on her waist, holding her hip bones down hard. He held her in place as she tried to wiggle.  
His tongue was teasing her, circling the lips of her pussy, then going to her hips, and leaving delicate kisses along them. He kissed her thighs, and then went back to her lips.  
"Draco, please," Hermione begged.  
Draco smirked, keeping it to himself. "I don't know Hermione, do you REALLY want me to devour you?"  
"Draco Malfoy, if you don't indulge me, I swear to the gods, I won't talk to you for a week."  
"That is quite the threat. Fine." Draco hummed, then, he attacked her clit.  
Hermione's body jerked as his tongue swirled around the sensitive little nub. He sucked on it gently, then harder. Hermione gasped out his name.  
Smirking to himself, he continued to suck and inserted his middle finger inside her, slowly pumping in and out as he kept sucking on her clit. She was wet, and his finger went in without any resistance.  
"Draco!" Hermione yelped.  
Draco chuckled to himself as he inserted his index finger, he made a scissoring motion with his fingers, and then licked up her slit.  
Hermione could feel herself approaching climax, "Fuck," she whispered, pulling on her restraint.  
Draco smirked again. He had the Gryffindor Princess literally in the palm of his hand.  
Hermione squealed, and her body tensed, then she hit her high. Panting, her tense muscles released, and she fell back, panting.  
Draco rested his head on her stomach, tilting it to lay on her hip bone. Draco could see Hermione's ribs, and it mildly concerned him.  
Hermione looked down at him, she growled, squirming "Draco Malfoy, if you don't get up here and bury yourself inside me right now, I will break free of these bonds, and physically hurt you."  
Draco pretended to contemplate it, "Hmmm, so you want me to fuck you. I don't know Granger. Are you sure you really want me inside you?"  
Hermione squirmed, trying to get him to do something.  
Draco chuckled and moved up so he was lying on top of her again, with his lips pressed against her neck. He kissed under her ear, earning a small gasp from her.  
"Dracooooo," she moaned.  
In one fluid motion, Draco entered her, and buried himself to the hilt. She was perfect for him. He felt so good inside her. "Fuck," he choked out into her neck.  
Draco took a moment to regain his composure. If he wasn't careful, he would cum quickly, and neither of them wanted that.  
After a few moments, he started thrusting inside of her, starting off slow, then going to strong, powerful, thrusts.  
"Draco, fuck, Draco," Hermione gasped.  
Draco captured her lips with his again. Hermione could taste herself on his lips. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair, and grip his back, yet her hands were still tied.  
"Draco, please untie me." She panted.  
Draco grunted, but stopped to untie her from her bonds. Once her wrists were free, she thrusted her fingers into his hair, feeling the silky, smooth hair slip between her fingers. She gently tugged on his hair. She earned a groan from Draco, though it may have also been due to the fact that he was buried inside of her.  
"God damn it Granger, you're fucking perfection," Draco groaned, sweat starting to drip from his forehead.  
Hermione moaned again, Draco pulled away for a few seconds, took her left leg, and pushed it up by her head, coming in at a different angle. He was surprised to find her extremely flexible.  
Hermione screamed, Draco was hitting her G-Spot perfectly.  
"Say my name, you filthy mudblood." Draco growled.  
"Draco- oh, Draco Malfoy," Hermione moaned.  
"Louder!" Draco demanded.  
"Draco, MALFOY," she screamed. And then she came again.  
Draco didn't stop, he was close, but he wanted to make sure that she rode hers out. He buried his face in her neck, and bit her shoulder. Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough that she was going to need to cover it up for the next few days.  
"Fuck me Draco, fuck me nice and hard." Hermione started to coo, "Teach this filthy mudblood a thing or two about your cock."  
And with that, Draco came. It was a powerful orgasm. He released her leg, letting it return to the bed, and almost collapsed on her. He stopped himself from crushing her, but stayed on top of her, enjoying the moment. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his breath.  
Hermione moaned as she felt Draco's weight on top of her. It was one of the sexiest things ever. They were both covered with a sheen of sweat. She could still feel Draco inside of her, until he slipped out.  
Draco stayed on top of her for a few more seconds before rolling off of her and laying next to her.  
"Come here," he whispered, pulling her waist towards him until they were spooning. He pulled the blankets from under their bodies and pulled them over them.  
He nuzzled her neck and buried his nose in her hair.  
"Granger, you are amazing. In every way conceivable," he whispered.  
Hermione blushed, though he couldn't see it, Draco knew that she was blushing.  
"Do you want to go another round? Because I will be able to do that in a few minutes." Draco continued.  
Hermione mulled it over. They have already have gone this far. She has already fucked him, her childhood bully and worse enemy. What would be another round or four?  
"Mhmmm, I don't know. Are you sure that you will be ready to go again?" Hermione teased.  
Draco chuckled, "I am an 18-year-old man, in the prime of his sex life. I have a wonderful libido."  
"Mhmmm, I guess," Hermione sighed, a smirk playing on her lips. She turned to look at him. "Do you need any help getting ready to fuck me again?"  
Draco swallowed hard, "Help as in…?"  
Hermione laughed and slipped under the covers. She moved down to where his cock was, took it in her hand, and licked it from base to tip.  
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Draco hissed. He threw the blanket off of them, and sat up a bit so he could watch Hermione.  
Hermione wrapped her lips around the head of his cock and flicked her tongue back and forth. Then she bobbed her head forward and took him in her mouth. His cock was starting to harden again, Hermione hummed to herself, causing vibrations on his cock.  
Draco groaned and tangled one of his hands in her hair, pushing her head down further on his cock. As Draco grew, it got harder for Hermione to fit him down her throat. She opted to tease him with her tongue.  
"God damn, Granger." Draco moaned. He released her head and placed his hands behind his head, enjoying the moment.  
About a minute later, he was completely ready. He pulled Hermione's head up from his cock and kissed her hard, before releasing her.  
He pushed her off of his body and forced her to turn around so her ass was facing him. "Hold onto the headboard and keep your back straight," Draco said, holding onto her hips.  
Hermione followed his instructions. Draco removed a hand from her hip, and lined himself up with her opening. He thrusted inside of her and elicited a moan from her. His hand returned to her hip, and he dug his fingers into her flesh.  
Hermione's grip tightened on the headboard. Draco started off slow, to make sure that her grip was firm on the headboard, then his pace picked up. Soon his was slamming his hips into hers, using strong, powerful thrusts.  
Hermione let out a guttural moan as Draco fucked her at a new angle. Draco removed a hand from her hip, and tangled it in her hair, pulling her head back. It was a new sensation for Hermione and she yelped, in both pain and pleasure. She felt herself get closer to her third orgasm.  
Draco released her hair and slid his arm under her body, and started to play with her clit, rubbing it and tugging on it gently. He rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. Hermione shrieked as she hit her third and most powerful orgasm of the night.  
Draco kept going, not even close to his orgasm. He kept playing with her clit as she rode out her orgasm. He kept his thrusts even as her pussy tightened around his cock.  
He groaned and grunted, refusing to slow down, until he also came. He grunted, and removed himself, laying down gently next to her, grabbing her waist and pulling her into his body.  
They ultimately had sex about three more times that night. Draco was true to his word, in the prime of his life with great stamina. At some point, Draco remembered the anti-pregnancy spell that his mother had taught him. He quickly preformed it on Hermione, and they went back to enjoying each other's bodies. They finally fell asleep around 3 am. Draco's arm was wrapped lazily around Hermione's form, and Hermione was as close as she could get to Draco's body.  
Draco's face was buried in her hair, enjoying the feeling of his body close to hers, and the connection that they had; it was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told ya, 100% pure smut! Hope you enjoyed you dirty birdies! (I won't judge if you fave this just so you can return when you're in the mood, it's what I do.) This story is to re-hone my skills as a smut writer. Someday, I may want to outdo 50 Shades of Gray for the hell of it (I've read better Jonas Brothers smut stories than that stupid book).  
> Review, favorite, follow, (be nice, I'll cry if you're not)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Having LOADS of hecking fun with this, doing essentially a spamming of this. I have never gotten this many views before. I was originally expecting to just do an 8 chapter story, this is OBVIOUSLY going to be more chapters than I thought it would be, so somewhere around 15ish. We'll see where this goes. The trouble is figuring out where to cut the chapters. So this is one of the twists that I had planned, I have another one coming up, I hope you guys don't see it coming!  
> Review (be kind!) and leave Kudos!

Headmistress McGonagall needed to talk to Hermione. She knew the head girl's schedule well. Usually Hermione slept in on Saturdays. Her homework was usually done, and she liked to take the time to herself.

Usually she would wait to talk to her when she woke up, but the matter was important. She went to Hermione's bedroom and knocked on the door. When there was no response, McGonagall said the password.

She opened the door to find the bed neatly made, and Crookshanks laying at the foot. He looked grumpier than usual. McGonagall looked at him quizzically. Being an Animagus that transformed into a cat, she had the ability to get thoughts, and feelings from fellow felines.

Crookshanks glared at her, and gave her the impression of Draco Malfoy's room.

McGonagall left the room, and went to go see if the Malfoy boy knew where Miss Granger was.

Knocking softly on the door, McGonagall only got snoring in response. She whispered the password and slipped her head inside the door.

The sight of a naked Granger tangled in the sheets with a naked Malfoy was too much, and she gasped loud.

Hermione woke up with a start, and opened her eyes to find Headmistress McGonagall staring at her in horror. Hermione squeaked as McGonagall slammed the door and ran back into the common room.

Sitting up, Hermione let out a slew of curse words. Draco woke up to the sound of her swearing and leaving bed.

"'Mione, what are you doing?" he asked groggily. He wanted her back in bed with him, and he wanted to wake up slowly.

"McGonagall just saw us. I'm not confident about the Hogwarts policy on sex, but having McGonagall seeing me naked is a bit more than I can handle," she replied, collecting her clothes. Her shirt was ruined, and her wand was in her room.

"Fuck," she whispered.

Draco stood up and went over to his closet where he grabbed his robe and threw it at her. "Just put this on. She knows what we did, she's probably imagining that a few clothes were ripped. I'll be down in a second."

Hermione took in the sight of a naked Draco in the morning. He had morning wood and she wanted to help him with it, but there was no time.

She shrugged on the robe and tied it tight, then left the room as Draco pulled on a fresh pair of boxers and a green pair of silk pajama bottoms.

"Miss Granger," Headmistress McGonagall said, not making eye contact with the young witch, "We have an urgent matter from the Ministry. You're needed immediately."

"What is the matter?"

'It um," McGonagall stuttered as Draco came down stairs without a shirt on. "It concerns Lucius. He wants to talk to you specifically. Says if he talks to you, then he'll reveal the last of the death eater strong holds. Good morning Mr. Malfoy."

"Why is the information solely for Granger? No offense Hermione." Draco said.

"He asked that you not be told. But the cat's out of the bag on a lot of things today. And before you ask, no Mr. Malfoy, you may not attend. I will know if you try to sneak out. Don't test me. I will see you in fifteen minutes in the Headmistresss's office so I can send you to the ministry via Floo Powder. Kingsley wants to brief you before you go see Lucius."

Hermione nodded, and McGonagall left the room, muttering to herself.

Hermione sighed and looked at Draco, "I should get ready. I'll see you later. And I'll tell you what he says."

Draco nodded and sat down in his chair. "Hermione, my father is cunning. He's a bit unhinged right now, but don't let that fool you. If he senses any weaknesses from you, he will utilize them and attack. He will try to get inside your mind, psychologically speaking. He was never good at occlumency. But do not underestimate him."

Hermione nodded, "Thank you Draco. I'll see you when I'm done."

She retreated to her room, collected a few professional looking clothes and took a quick shower. She skipped washing her hair, that would just take too long. Once she finished getting clean and putting her clothes on, she held her wand to her hair and said a drying spell.

After pulling on a sensible pair of black flats, she grabbed a notebook and a small bag and dashed down the stairs.

"Bye Draco," she called over her shoulder while exiting the painting.

She hurried to the headmistress's office and said the password, stepping onto the revolving stairs. She found McGonagall sitting at her desk.

"The channel to Kingsley's office is open. Just use some of my floo powder. I'll see you later today."

Hermione followed her instructions, grabbed a handful of floo powder and ducked into the fireplace. "Prime Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt's office, Ministry of Magic," she stated clearly and firmly, throwing the floo powder down at her feet.

A few seconds later she found herself standing in the Prime Minister's office. She stepped out of the fireplace and dusted the soot off of her outfit.

"Morning Prime Minister," she said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Good Morning Miss Granger. Please help yourself to a pastry and then take a seat. I want to give you a few parameters regarding Lucius. He is dangerous. Never forget that. We have him shackled and a spell on him to keep his magic muffled. That doesn't stop him from being dangerous. He said that he has a few more secrets that he's kept. He specifically asked for you. I think he wants some information from you, a quid pro quo scenario, so to say. Don't trust him. We need the information regarding the last hideouts. And it is crucial to us. Don't make any promises to him, you don't owe him anything. Understand?"

Hermione nodded, taking a bite out of a pastry. "Completely understood. Malfoy told me the same thing. He told me that his father isn't good at occlumency, but to not trust him. He will attempt to find a weakness and exploit it."

"Glad he gave you a heads up. Well, he's in an interrogation room. Come back and see me when you are done talking to him." Kingsley said. "I don't expect you to spend more than twenty minutes with him. And if you feel threatened at any time, there are guards stationed outside of the door. There is one outside of this door and she will take you to the room."

"Thank you, Kingsley. I will see you in a little bit."

Hermione stood up and left the room. She found a woman with a scar down her face, starting at her left eyebrow, curving around her eye, and all the way down to her cheek.

"Good morning Miss Granger, I am Jaqueline Jackson, my friends call me Jackie. Let's get you to Lucius. I'm assuming that Kingslsey briefed you?"

"Yes Jackie, as did Draco Malfoy before I left Hogwarts."

"So he really is Head Boy? How do you manage?"

Hermione sighed, "He has changed a lot since the war. A lot of people doubt him, but he is trying to right his wrongs and apologize to everyone who he hurt. We actually work very well together."

"He hasn't called you any names or tried to kill you has he?"

Hermione laughed, "We insult each other jokingly now. Never in front of other students. We walk a fine line actually. If we can't work together, then that's the end of Slytherin. He's a lot nicer than he was before the war. Like, infinitely nice."

"Well if he ever tries anything, just let me know, I'll teach him a thing or two."

Hermione laughed, "Don't worry, I can hold myself, and then Harry and Ron will clean up the mess. For once."

Jackie smiled. They reached the door. It was a plain, unassuming door. Two more guards stood outside of it.

"Lucius Malfoy refuses to have a guard inside the room. Are you comfortable with that?" asked a man with red hair.

Hermione nodded, "Yes, I've faced Voldemort head on, and I'm not afraid of some failed death eater. If I have any problems, I'll call for you."

"Now Miss Granger, because we do not trust him, we want to hold onto your wand. If he gets ahold of it, he will try to use it to free himself."

"Understood," Hermione replied. She pulled her wand out of her pocket and handed it to the guard. "Take good care of it please."

He nodded. The third guard opened the door for her and Hermione stepped through the door. It closed behind her, and she heard a locking mechanism. She took a deep breath and exhaled, finding herself faced with a hollowed looking Lucius Malfoy.

He looked worse for wear, his pale blonde hair tangled and dirty, skin looked grey, and it seemed like he had lost fifteen pounds. He was no longer imposing.  
Hermione sat down in the seat across from him and took out her notebook, laying her pen next to her. She hated using quills all the time. Lucius looked at the pen, curious, but refusing to ask about it.

Hermione cleared her throat, placed her hands in front of her, and looked at Lucius.

Lucius was the first to speak.

"I heard that you and my son are head boy and girl together." Lucius said, staring at the bushy haired witch. His face showed no emotion.

"Yes, we are." Hermione replied curtly.

Lucius raised an eyebrow and appraised the witch, "Are you fucking him?"

Hermione kept a poker face, "That's none of your business. If you have questions like that, you should reach out to Draco."

"He won't talk to me."

"He would if you weren't so demanding in your letters. While our personal lives are none of your business, we do have a good friendship. Past transgressions have been forgiven."

"So you are fucking him."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "We're getting off subject. I came here to get information. If it is good, solid information, then your sentence may be reduced. The wizarding world takes my opinion very seriously."

Lucius leaned across the table and looked directly into Hermione's eyes, "Not until you tell me if my son is sullying himself inside your filthy mudblood pussy."

Hermione took a deep breath, and exhaled out her mouth, "Mr. Malfoy, with all due respect, that is not my place to answer. I do not know if your son likes discussing his sex life with you."

"Answer the question, or no information."

Hermione mulled it over in her head, on one hand, they needed this information. It was crucial they capture the last few death eaters that remained on the lam. They didn't need more destruction to be caused. On the other hand, she didn't want to betray Draco's trust, and she didn't was Lucius Malfoy to know about her sex life. Yet she decided to pick her battles.

"We slept together last night. Happy? Now, the information you promised. Don't test me Lucius. I can make your life in prison a living nightmare." She replied.

Lucius laughed, "Of course. He always had a crush on you. If he wasn't complaining about Potter, he was complaining about you. He rarely mentioned the Weasleys. Too preoccupied with you two."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Can we get on with it? Your son kept me up all night."

She smirked as Lucius visibly shuddered.

"Fine, there's a stronghold at the Duncansby Head Lighthouse in far northern Scotland. Augustus Rookwood, Thorfinn Rowle, and Corban Yaxley are hiding out there. They are working on recruiting new death eaters around the country side. While the Dark Lord is dead, the cause isn't."

Hermione wrote all of this down, "Any other places?"

"There is a little town in Wales called Winston. They have a stronghold set up in the abandoned Chamber's Mansion. A few of Fenir Greyback's minions are holed up there. Walden Macnair is probably there. And nobody is currently at this one, yet it should be mentioned, but there is an abandoned factory outside of London. It was used to build bombs in muggle World War II. It's the McMiller factory. It's been turned into a safe house. I'm the secret keeper so now you know where it is."

Hermione pushed her paper and pen towards him, "Write those all down. I know how secret keepers work Lucius. I need verification by you so these places can be raided."

The older wizard rolled his eyes, but complied. "That is all I know, if there are any more safe houses, then I wasn't made aware of them. As you know, I fell from grace. I'm sure my son has given you all the dirty details."

Hermione chuckled, "Again, none of your business. But I'll tell him that you said hi."

Hermione collected her notebook and returned it to her backpack. She walked to the door, opened it, motioned to a guard outside the door, who entered the room and led Lucius away.

"Wait, mudblood, are you going to testify to get my sentence reduced?"

Hermione sighed, her eye twitching when he called her mudblood, "I will testify that you are a dick, but you are cooperative. And it depends on how good this information is, if we catch a few more death eaters, your sentence will most likely be reduced. Especially if we catch Rookwood. The Weasleys might actually hug you."

Lucius looked at her quizzically, "What?"

"Rookwood is the one that killed Fred Weasley. I thought you knew that?"

"I didn't stick around for the second half of battle, in case your failed to notice. I collected my child and left."

"Well now you know. I will see you again, probably soon. Goodbye Lucius."

With that Hermione left the room, and walked to Kingsley's office. She knocked gently on the door.

"Come in," Kingsley called.

Hermione entered the room and placed her notebook on his desk, the page opened to her notes.

"He gave me the names. I had him write down the locations because he's the secret keeper. Bastard tried to trick me. He's a dick, but ultimately, he was cooperative." Hermione reported.

Kingsley looked over the notebook, "Can I have these notes?"

Hermione nodded, "Go for it. Do you know why he chose to talk only to me? I have a suspicion that it has to do with Draco refusing to talk to him."

"It's Draco now? Not Malfoy?"

"Kingsley, I don't care if you're prime minister, but if you also ask me about my sex life with Draco, I will hit you. Lucius is lucky that I didn't hex him."

"Lucius asked about your sex life?"

"Specifically, my relationship to his son. He refused to answer my questions unless I told him. Lucius is now aware of my sex life, and it's awful. I feel like I betrayed Draco."  
Hermione rambled. She trusted Kingsley with her life, and trusted him to not rat her out to anyone.

"Well, Hermione. I trust your judgment on this; if you see something that I don't inside of Draco Malfoy, then I will take you opinion seriously. Same goes with Lucius. If this information proves to be correct, and we round these people up, then we will see about reducing his sentence. And, as an elder to a younger, my advice is tell Draco the truth. That it was either tell Lucius about you two, or lose out on this information. Eventually, it will leak. But explain the situation to Draco. I expect that he will understand."

Hermione nodded, "Yes Prime Minister."

"Also, write to Harry and Ron more often. They worry about you. Hell, Molly worries about you. She says that you don't need to feel awkward. She holds no ill will towards you for your relationship not working out with her son. And that she still needs to properly thank you for getting George the help he needs. Yes, we talk about these things."

Hermione chuckled, "It's just been a rough year on me. I need some time to myself, to sort everything out."

"No, you're just afraid of losing another parent. Hermione, you need to let people in again. I'm glad to see you're letting the Malfoy boy in though. Go ahead and get back to school. You look tired."

Hermione laughed, "McGonagall woke us up this morning. She hasn't made eye contact with me all day."

Kingsley laughed, "Now that is funny. I'll see you later Hermione."

Hermione stood and went to the fire place, "Goodbye!" She took a handful of floo powder, stood in the fireplace, and said firmly, "Headmistress's office, Hogwarts school of Witch Craft and Wizardry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to power through posting this so it can be completed! I've got a meeting soon so I'll power through as much as possible! I think I can get a few more chapters before my meeting and then focus most of the day on this and get it all posted! Wish me luck!  
> Review and leave kudos!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're going to be approaching fluff territory. To remind you where we are in the school year, we are in early December, with Christmas approaching. So like, SUPER fluff. It's gag worthy, but I love it. Review and leave Kudos!

In a flash of green, Hermione disappeared and stumbled into the headmistress's office.

"How did it go Hermione?" McGonagall asked, not looking up from the letter she was reading.

"Lucius Malfoy is a prick, but he gave me information. I forced him to write it down because he's the secret keeper for those locations. Kingsley has it. I just hope that it is decent information. I need to go talk to Draco. Let me know if you need anything else."

McGonagall nodded, and Hermione left the office. She past a few third year Ravenclaws on her way to the common room. They stared at her wide eyed, and then started whispering among themselves. Something about Draco.

Hermione ignored them. They weren't disrupting anything. Reaching the common room, she said the password and entered the room to find Draco still only in his pajama bottoms, reading a book by the fireplace.

He looked up from his book, his forehead scrunched up in worry. "How did it go?"

"Your father is a fucking asshole. He forced me to tell him that we slept together. But he gave me the locations of some death eaters that are still on the run. Still, he's a fucking dick."

Draco sighed, "It sucks because I probably know those locations that are strongholds, but he's the secret keeper."

"Yeah, it does suck. And I'm sorry about talking about our sex life. I told him multiple times to ask you directly, but he refused. He wanted to hear it from me. Also, you haven't talked to him in over six months, and I know that you're refusing to talk to him."

Draco sighed, "It's fine. It's eventually going to get out that we slept together. I just hope he keeps his mouth shut. We need to talk about what's next. I don't want last night to be a one-night thing. And I wouldn't mind if we became something more."

Hermione sat on the chair across from him and kicked off her shoes. She sighed, "When, we come out as whatever we decide to become, Harry and Ron are going to have a conniption. Do not expect to be invited over to the Weasley house any time soon. We will be the lead story in the Daily Prophet. That'll be fun. Draco, can we just play it by ear? In case you haven't noticed, I have attachment issues."

Draco sighed, "As you wish. But we will discuss it eventually. Now, do you want to take a nap with me? Or by yourself? I'm exhausted from last night. Wait, have you eaten?"

"Yes, I had a couple of pastries. And I would love a nap right now."

Draco stood up, as did Hermione, and they went up to his room where they stripped off their clothes. Hermione helped herself to Draco's clothes and pulled out one of his t-shirts. It was a deep, forest green. She pulled it on and climbed into bed with Draco, who sighed contently.

Draco wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to his body to where they were spooning. Engulfed in her smell, he quickly fell asleep and Hermione followed suit a few minutes later.

The next morning was filled with hushes and stares. As soon as Hermione walked into the great hall, she knew that everyone knew.

"Fuck," she whispered to herself. She quickly located Ginny and Neville, who were sitting there, and staring directly at her.

Ginny's glare could kill a dragon, Hermione shuddered. She took a deep breath and sat across from them.

"Well, let's get on with it. Who told you?" She muttered, grabbing her goblet as it filled with pumpkin juice.

"I heard it from Luna, who heard it from Anthony, who heard it from Cormic, who heard it from his cousin who works at Askaban as a guard, who heard it straight from the mouth of Lucius Malfoy." Ginny replied. She took a sip of her tea, glaring at Hermione from over it.

"God, word travels fast," Hermione muttered. "Before you judge me, he has changed. Yes, I sound cliché and what not, but he genuinely has changed. I know that you've seen it too. Neville, before you speak choose your words. And no hitting him."

"Just, Hermione! He's a death eater! A fucking death eater! And you're fucking him." Neville said, in a sharp, harsh whisper.

"I fucking know that he's a death eater Neville. I woke up to his dark mark plastered on his forearm this morning." Hermione shot back, also in a harsh whisper.

"I don't care what he says to you, he participated in torturing us students last year. And he enjoyed it!" Neville responded.

"Are you sure he enjoyed it Neville? Did you actually watch his face?"

Neville's face fell, "No, I didn't. But, but, I remember…" he trailed off.

Ginny looked off in the distance, "Neville, I actually don't remember him being there to participate in the torture."

Just at that moment, Draco sat down next to them, his steel grey eyes burning.

"Weasley, Longbottom. Do we have a problem? If not, I'd like to apologize for last year. I'm sorry I didn't get around to it sooner. It's been hard for me to face my past. I don't like thinking about it. I'm sure you don't either." He said coolly.

Hermione looked away, not really wanting to watch this scenario unfold, and just at that moment, Luna sat next to her on the other side.

"Hello Hermione, I wanted to come straight to the source, as I see everyone is yelling at you. Are you and Draco truly seeing each other, as more than friends, and as lovers?"  
She said, her eyes wide, and her face emotionless. It was almost disturbing the way she stared at Hermione.

Hermione sighed, "Yes, Luna, we are seeing each other. Lucius Malfoy can't keep his mouth shut."

"Okay, I was just wondering. I think that it is wonderful. We shouldn't frown in the face of love, no matter how unprecedented it is; love is what saved the wizarding world, love is what will rebuild it. Let me know if you ever want to talk about relationship problems. I'm a good listener," Luna hummed. She gave them a small smile, stood up, and wandered back over to the Ravenclaw table.

Neville groaned, "I hate it when she's right." He glared at Draco. "Just because you're fucking Hermione, doesn't mean I trust you. I don't like you, I have never liked you, and I never will. But Hermione trusts you. And that's good enough for me. But if you hurt, trick, break, or god forbid, kill her, you will answer to Harry, Ron, Ginny, and then me, completely in that order."

Ginny glared, "Nope, it's me, Harry, Ron, then Neville. Just try me Ferret."

Hermione didn't look, but she could feel the eyes of the entire great hall on them. This confrontation would determine the entire future of the school. If her friends were to lash out publicly on Draco, or attack him, then everything would be done, and there would be no unity.

Draco took a deep breath, and released it slowly, "Understood. And give Granger some credit. If I tried to fuck with her, she'd end me herself."

Hermione snorted, "He's remembering third year, when I slapped him."

Ginny chuckled, "Well, why I do not, approve of this union. I do trust Hermione. She wouldn't be with you ferret, unless she saw something that I obviously do not see in you. Hermione, if you ever need help kicking his ass, just let me know."

Ginny smiled, looking a bit unhinged as she stared at Draco. She stood up and left the table. Neville quickly followed after her.

Hermione groaned and banged her head on the table once. "Draco, this will be our relationship. People always calling it into question. And they will always say that I'm either off my rocker, or that they trust me, but they don't trust you. Are you content with that?"

Draco sat there and stared at the lines in the wood. He could feel the entire great hall continue to stare at him. His fellow, and few Slytherins were staring at him hopefully. If he could make it with the Gryffindor princess, then everything for the Slytherin house would turn out to be okay. He glanced at the frizzy haired witch. Her chin was resting on the table, her arms to her side. She was staring at the wall, looking through it.

He sighed, "I'm okay with this. This will be perfectly fine. We shall act like any other dating couple, and I shall actually court you. Would you like to go to Madam Puddifoot's this Saturday?"

Hermione smiled, "Make it an actual bar and you have yourself a deal. Wait, are you still welcome in the Three Broomsticks or the Hogs Head? Probably not the Hogs Head."

Draco chuckled, "We'll apparate to Diagon Alley. Or Muggle London and go to a bar out there. I don't want to test my delicate relationship with the people of Hogsmeade."

Hermione smiled, "Sounds like a plan."

Hermione groaned and sat up, "Shit, I owe George Weasley 10 Galleons. Fuck."

Draco chuckled, "Um, why?"

She looked at him sharply, "We had a bet. He said I would fuck you by April. I have to eat my words and admit that he was right. Fuck."

Draco let out a loud laugh, the great hall turned to stare at them. But it didn't matter, Draco and Hermione were too engrossed with each other to notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, I know. I have all of this on a long word document Review and leave kudos! I shall continue trudging on!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mainly filler. I'm trying to make everything on a timeline and keep it consistent with the school year. My fellow admins on Harry Potter is my Oxygen (Like and follow us on facebook; I'm Beedle the Bard), have been helping me with this! So enjoy the filler. Chapter 11 is Christmas and it's so sweet that it hurts my teeth! Review and leave Kudos!

The final week of term flew by quickly. Draco and Hermione's relationship was the main topic of discussion. Like Hermione predicted, their relationship was featured on the front cover of the Daily Prophet.

Rita Skeeter, after her fall from grace, had managed to climb her way to a respectable position. Still a gossip columnist, but respectable enough to move back to the Daily Prophet as opposed to the Quibbler. She had an "exclusive interview" with Lucius Malfoy.

Hermione sat at the Gryfindor table, her hands crunching the Daily Prophet as she read all of the supposedly sordid details of her relationship with Draco. Rita brought back the speculation of Hermione's 'relationship' with Harry and Victor Krum, during 4th year.

Rita ended the article with "When we reached out, Hermione Granger refused to send a letter back and Draco Malfoy told us to "**** off and die." We are graciously considering it, NOT a threat from the former Death Eater, but as words of passion. If either of the love birds ever want to give us an interview, we would love to talk to them about their relationship."

Hermione balled up the Daily Prophet into a wrinkly mess, threw it on the table, and pointed her wand at it, "Incendio" she shrieked.

Her mild outburst caught the attention of everyone in the great hall. They were already warily watching her, waiting to see her reaction to the article. They had their answer.  
Hermione stood up and glared at her school mates. "Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animangas. I am reporting her to the Ministry. She went too far during the Triwizard Tournament when she harassed the participants. I thought she learned her lesson when I kept her in a jar for a year, apparently she didn't. Go about your day."

Hermione huffed and marched to the owl tower. She had had enough of Rita Skeeter's bullshit. It was petty, and it was sour grapes, but Rita Skeeter had to be punished.  
She pulled scrap paper from her bag, scribbled down a letter, and attached it to a barn owl. She watched the owl fly off to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She felt a hand land on her shoulder.

"Did you really keep Rita Skeeter in a jar for a year?" Draco asked.

Hermione snorted, "Yes, I put sticks in it, and leaves for her to eat. When I finally let her out, she was PISSED, but there was nothing she could do about it. We had a deal, she would keep mine, Harry's, Victor's, and Cedric's names out of her filthy column, and I would keep her little secret. She broke her promise. So it's time to face the consequences."

Draco chuckled, "Are you sure that the sorting hat put you in the right house? Because that is very Slytherin of you."

"The Sorting Hat almost put me in Ravenclaw. It mentioned Slytherin when it saw my ambition, but decided that Gryffindor was the best fit."

"Yeah, it just touched my head and said Slytherin. It wasn't even fully on. It heard the name Malfoy, shouted Slytherin. Come on, let's get out of the cold. I can't wait to see the paper tomorrow. Rita Skeeter's dirty little secret should at least make the third page.

Draco was wrong, it made the front page. A picture of Rita Skeeter being arrested was front and center. Her glasses askew, her hair a mess. She was screaming, though the words were silent because it was only a picture. The "Dramoine" relationship, as the wizarding world had so lovingly named it, was pushed back to page 7.

Hermione smiled to herself as her classmates talked about her outburst, and pestered Hermione about how she found out that Rita was an Animagus. She told the story, probably 20 times, before it stuck and people shared it with each other She preferred this being the gossip as opposed to her sex life.

The semester finally ended, she took her tests, got O's on all of them. Ginny, Neville, and Luna all took off on the Hogwarts Express. Hermione stood on the platform and waved at them as the train took off, taking them away for the winter holidays. They had half-seriously offered to stay with her for the holiday, but Hermione could tell that they missed their families, Ginny especially.

Draco greeted her back at the Hogwarts gate, and they went on a walk to the lake. It was starting to freeze over, the shore frozen solid, and the middle of the lake still water.

They thought about skating, but didn't want to fall in the water. So they contented themselves to staying on the shore.

That was, until Hermione picked up a ball of snow and lobbed it at Draco's back.

He stopped in his tracks, and made a face. He was still facing away from her, but he bent down, scooped up some snow, and turned around.

"Miss Granger, let me remind you, I play sports, you read books. I will give you one chance to back down, otherwise you will unleash the dragon's fury." He said, his voice eerily calm, but his eyes laughing.

Hermione giggled and mimicked him in a posh voice, "You will unleash the dragon! That is the silliest thing I've heard all week-"

Draco hit her in the chest with snow. Some of it made it into her coat

Hermione shrieked, and the war was on. Flitwick came out of the castle and started to chide them about snowball fights. Until, a straw snowball hit him on top of his head, getting snow everywhere.

Flitwick took a deep breath and glared at Draco, "I'm not going to give you detention, but I highly suggest you stop before you get in trouble. Come inside, the elves are making hot chocolate and cookies."

Hermione smiled, "That sounds wonderful actually." She grabbed Draco's hand and half pulled him inside of the building, following Flitwick to the Great Hall.

There were only a handful of students left, a Slytherin who had lost her parents in battle, a few Hufflepuffs, a single Ravenclaw, and two Gryffindors. This was the usual amount of people who stayed during the holidays. Hermione sat down at the table by the Gryffindors. Draco sat next to her, across from the Slytherin.

"Are you excited for the holiday?" Hermione asked the Gryffindors with a smile.

They nodded, the younger one stared at Hermione in awe.

Hermione tilted her head, "Is everything okay?"

The little Gryffindor nodded, "Yeah, I'm just surprised that you're talking to us. You always seem distant."

Hermione laughed, "No, that's just my personality. You can always approach me and ask me questions if you want!"

The little Gryffindor forced a smile. A goblet appeared in front of Hermione filled with steaming hot chocolate, with whipped cream on top. She beamed and took a sip.

Draco watched her, a small smile playing on his lips.

The few guests watched them with wide eyes. It was something that they hadn't expected, but stranger things had happened in the hallowed halls of Hogwarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, just filler! But please review and leave Kudos! I know that I'm probably making grammatical errors, spelling errors, and using preposition phrases (my mom would have an aneurysm), but I'm more concerned about my plot and if it's easy to follow! Thank's for tuning in! I think we're over halfway through this, we'll see!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay me! Chapter 11 is here! It's full of mushy gooeyish, absolute fluff. Like it's nauseating how sweet it is. Thank you reviewers who left me constructive criticism! I'm glad that the Rita Skeeter bit pleased everyone! Review and leave Kudos!

Hermione woke up in Draco's bed. She had started to spend more time in his bed than her own. She had pushed aside some of his clothes in one of the drawers to fit a few of her own, just to save time. She did occasionally duck over to her room for a different outfit, but she usually used his shower.

Crookshanks had started sleeping in his room, the smart ginger cat figuring out their relationship. He decided that he would just get used to the new sleeping arrangements. He rarely got to sleep on the actual bed, because the owner of said bed would be doing the horizontal tango.

Hermione sat up and looked around. She saw snow falling again from the sky, she smiled, it was beautiful. She looked down at the foot of the bed and saw presents. She smiled and shook Draco awake.

She leaned over him, her hair encasing their faces, "Draco! It's Christmas! Wake up!"

Draco groaned, and rolled over onto his other side, "It's not going anywhere, go back to sleep."

Hermione poked him sharply in the side, her face scrunched, "There are presents waiting to be opened, and then delicious crepes to be eaten! Wake up!"

Draco rolled back to see her and her face smiling. "Mhm, what do I get if I wake up?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, catching his innuendo, but deciding to play stupid, "You get presents silly! I think that there is chocolate over there!"

"You're playing stupid aren't you?"

Hermione nodded, "Yep! Presents and food first, then we can return and have hot sex. Sound good?"

Draco groaned, "Fine! But I'm wearing my pajamas down there. I don't want to get dressed only to have to completely undress."

Hermione shrugged, "That's fine." She then sat up and crawled to the end of the bed. Sitting criss-cross, she pulled out her pile.

"It never ceases to amaze me how the castle knows where to send gifts to," she hummed as she opened the package from Mrs. Weasley. It was a maroon sweater with a green H on it. She smiled to herself, it was nice to be included in the Weasley clan, even if she wasn't there to participate.

Harry had gotten her a few books on wizarding law, Ron had gotten her a few books on magical creatures, more than what would be taught in Hagrid's classes. They both had also picked up loads of chocolate for her.

George sent her a card and a bottle of firewhiskey. The card read "To old memories and new beginnings! I still have your underwear."

Hermione laughed out loud for that one. She was glad that sex hadn't made her relationship with George awkward. If anything, it had caused her to gain a new best friend.

Ginny had sent her a few books as well, mainly muggle books. They were collectors' editions of books that Hermione already had; Charlie sent a book on dragons, Bill a book on curse breaking. Fleur sent a few boxes of homemade tea brews for different maladies. Arthur sent her a book about magicking muggle items, with a note warning her to not attempt it because that would make him have more paperwork, unless she could keep it hidden.

Molly also sent her homemade fudge, gingersnaps, and gingerbread. Hermione broke off a piece of gingerbread and munched on it appreciatively.

Luna sent her a pair of radish earrings, promising that they would ward of the nargels, Neville sent her a nice stationary set. McGonagall had sent her a new quill. Hermione got a few more gifts in the form of candies and chocolates from various friends that she had all over the wizarding world. She had sent them presents to, putting more thought into the ones that would go to her closest friends, and chocolates to all of her extended friends.

She sorted through the pile, humming happily to herself, until she got to Draco's present.

Draco had pulled up a crumpled looking package first, not expecting anything like it. Attached was a card, he opened that first.

Young Mister Malfoy, Hermione is like a daughter to me, I love her dearly. Clearly, she adores you. Consider this a peace offering from my family strictly to you. Happy Christmas.  
~Molly Weasley

Draco was surprised to find a gift from her, he opened it to find an emerald green Christmas sweater, with a white D knitted into it. He chuckled to himself, and set it aside, making plans to wear it for the day just for the hell of it.

He received more presents than he expected. Many of them came, surprisingly, from the Weasley clan. They came in the form of candy, they all had cards attached to them, offering threats if he hurt Hermione. He didn't trust all of the chocolates, especially the ones from George. They closely resembled puking pasties.

He received loads of gifts from his mother, everything from homemade fudge, to chocolate frogs, new clothes, a new green scarf, a stationary set, quills, etc. He received about fifteen presents from her specifically. He smiled to himself, hoping that his small gift of a customized locket from Paris would make her smile.

From the corner of his eye, he watched Hermione open her gifts individually. She got a lot of books from her friends. Some of them looked brand new, big, and boring, some of them looked like leather bound classics. She also got a lot of chocolates. She picked up the small, unassuming gift from him.

Draco knew jewelry very well. His mother loved necklaces and bracelets. He learned at an early age that, no matter how often a woman said she didn't care for jewelry, she cared for jewelry. Humans just liked shiny items.

Yet just in case, he also picked up something nerd-esc for his girlfriend. He knew that she would appreciate the shiny bauble that she got, but she would appreciate something more thoughtful. He hoped that he would accomplish both. He ordered something akin to the same thing he ordered his mother.

The same time Hermione found his gift, he found hers. He decided to hold off on unwrapping her gift, choosing to appraise her reaction.

She took a deep breath, and unwrapped the pretty bow and wrapping paper from the small box. She opened it to find a heart shaped locket with a ruby in the center, accented by diamonds. She looked at Draco, then back at the locket. She pulled the chain gently from the box, and opened the small locket.

In it, there was a still picture of her parents, a complete muggle picture. It was them on their ski trip. Hermione remembered taking the photo, enjoying the few small pleasures found in the muggle world. The non-moving pictures were one of her last connections to her original world. Her mother and father were smiling, they had fallen a couple of times, they were covered in snow, but they were having the time of their lives.

The picture on the other side, was a picture of her, Ron, and Harry a few weeks after the battle of Hogwarts. They were standing at the front of the castle, their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders, triumphant smiles plastered on their faces. They had just restored the statues when this photo was taken. This picture was moving.

Hermione stared at the pictures for a few seconds, tears welling in her eyes, and then falling silently down her cheeks.

Draco had a moment of complete panic. "Hermione, I didn't mean to make you cry, I'm so sorry. It's okay if you don't like it, I just was trying to be sentimental. I'm so-"

Hermione attacked him with a hug, almost throwing him off balance. He had a moment of surprise before he wrapped his arms around Hermione's form. She was crying into his shoulder, and he could feel her tears on his neck.

"It's perfect Draco. Thank you. It's absolutely perfect. I feel that my presents are inadequate now, but this is perfect." She rambled, her arms tightening around Draco's neck.

They stayed like that for a few moments until Hermione pulled away. "Help me put it on," she said, handing the necklace to Draco.

She held up her hair as Draco unsnapped the delicate chain, and swung it around her neck. He clasped it at the base of her hair, and placed a soft kiss on the back of her neck. 

Hermione stiffened as goosebumps covered her body. Draco placed another kiss on the side of her neck and then pulled away, smirking.

Hermione let her hair fall back around her shoulders, and pulled up the locket looking at it, "This means a lot to me Draco. It really does. I will cherish this forever," she looked up at him, her big, brown eyes, widening, "Thank you, Draco. Thank you."

He smiled, "You're welcome Hermione."

She pulled back and looked at him. His eyes were warm, and looked like quicksilver as opposed to cold steel. His face was soft and vulnerable. Hermione surprised him when she pressed her lips against his hard. Her hand went to his cheek, deepening the kiss.

It threw Draco off guard a bit, usually she wasn't this affectionate, yet he recovered and wrapped an arm around her waist, his hand resting on the smile of her back.

Hermione pulled away and smiled, "Okay, go ahead and open yours."

"I have another for you. A back up gift just in case you didn't like the necklace," Draco replied, still smiling.

Hermione then noticed another package at the bottom of her pile. She pulled it up and opened it.

It was a collector's edition of Hogwarts: A History. Leather bound, updated, and signed.

She smiled, "Thank you Draco. Everything is perfect. Now open mine!"

Draco took the small package and opened it. It was one of her hand-knitted hats. Ruby red, with green designs. It was knobbled, and looked every bit of work by a novice knitter. He chuckled, "Really Granger? Really?"

She smiled, "There's another thing hidden inside of that, I was going to let you find it on your own, but figured I'd just point it out."

He shook his head and pulled out a small black box. It had a single silver bow on it, no wrapping paper. He opened it and found a pair of silver cufflinks that had small dragons with DM carved on them. He watched them as the dragons moved in circles.

"There's a jewelry maker in Romania. Charlie recommended him to me, I had him make these. They're based of the Hungarian Horntail. I feel like my gifts are nowhere near as amazing-"

Draco cut her off with a kiss. He pulled away, "They're perfect. I know you actually put thought into them, and you handmade the fucking hat. As ugly as it is, I will wear it. At least one time."

Hermione beamed, looking up at him. He still looked vulnerable. His hair was still mussed from sleep, his eyes soft, his expression kind. This was a never seen Draco. A Draco that was never viewed in public. She placed her palm gently on his cheek, a soft smile spreading across her face.

Those three words came to the tip of her tongue, but she bit them back.

It was too early to say them, and she shouldn't say them in the spur of the moment. But she was starting to feel them, and it scared her a bit. Yet it was the good kind of scared.

Draco appraised her, her hair was unruly, though that was a constant. Those curls never stayed still. Her eyes looked alive, she had a smile on her face. It was nice to see that; this was going to be a good day for her.

Hermione was the first to break away from the almost staring contest.

She cleared her throat, "Well, we should get going. I'm hungry and candy will only go so far to fill up a stomach."

Draco nodded, "Of course."

He stood up and went over to his dresser where he grabbed a t-shirt. He pulled on his trainers and grabbed the Weasley sweater. He pulled it on over his t-shirt.

He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he looked like a mess. He chuckled.

Hermione watched him with her wide eyes. She smirked when she saw his outfit.

"Molly sent you a sweater?"

"Yes, she sent it as a peace offering solely to me. I think she's accepted our relationship. Put yours on. We'll go around matching. Hurry up. The faster we eat, the faster I get to drag you back to bed and ravish you."

Hermione giggled but complied.

A few minutes later they were ready to head down to the great hall. Hermione wore her sweater over a tank top, and had a pair of old sweatpants on.

Hermione smiled and led Draco down to the great hall. She said happy Christmas to the various paintings, of whom were celebrating in their own ways. They greeted her warmly. Sir Cadogan shouted a greeting to her. The others in the painting he was in cringed, but promptly went back to drinking. Hermione held back her laugh.

They arrived in the great hall which was filled with students, professors, and ghosts alike. Winky was sitting at the table.

"Miss Hermione! It's so good to see you," she smiled. "I thought that I would come in honor of Dobby. He would be out here too if he was still with us."

Hermione sat next to her, "It's fantastic to see you too Winky. How are you feeling?"

"Much better Miss. I miss Dobby every day, but I have been working on my problems. Some days are harder than others, but today is going to be a good day," Winky smiled.

"I'm so happy to hear that Winky."

Hermione engaged other students in the conversation with Winky. Draco began a conversation with the other Slytherin, who had sat next to him.

"Vivian, are you doing okay?" He asked in a hushed whisper.

"Yeah, it's hard to not be home for the holidays though. I've been talking to McGonagall to see if I can just stay here next summer. My extended family is still loyal to the cause," she replied, also in a whisper.

It was a private, intimate conversation that shouldn't include other students.

"Look, I'm going to be getting my own flat probably when I graduate. I don't want to go back to the manor. You are more than welcome to live with me over the summer, rent free. I have enough that I can take care of the bills." He replied.

"What about Hermione?"

"She's seen what a negative home did to Potter. If we're still together and she moves in, she will be perfectly okay with it. And you're more than welcome to come and spend Christmases with us. We'll probably be at the Weasley's house for the next few years. I suggest you become friends with Ginny Weasley. YOU weren't part of the cause, so she shouldn't have any ill will towards you."

"Are you sure that they would be welcoming?" Vivian asked, her voice wavering.

"Vivian, Molly Weasley made me a fucking sweater. It's the infamous Weasley Sweater. She's going to be perfectly fine with you. She adopts all of the hopeless cases. She sent this thing wretched thing as a peace offering."

Vivian gave a small smile, "Thank you Draco. It's nice to see you nicer. I know that our house had a bad rep, but I'm glad to see that you're trying to change it."

"There are so few of us left, I have to set a good example. Just let me know your decision by the end of the year."

Vivian nodded, "Again, thank you."

They returned to the conversation with the rest of the table. Vivian began conversing with the Ravenclaw about their classes, them being in the same grade. The older Gryffindor observed Vivian's and Draco's conversation warily. He wasn't close enough to listen to it, but from body language, it looked tense.

When breakfast was over, a few of the students went outside. Draco dragged Hermione back to his bedroom for a few hours before letting her join the rest of the students outside.

It was a snowy perfect day. The sky was grey with clouds, snow falling from them. The lake was frozen solid and professors were helping the students charm their shoes to become ice skates.

Hermione joined in on the fun, gliding gracefully across the lake. This was the one sport that Draco was not proficient at. He struggled to stay balanced, his body jerking left and right in an attempt to not fall.

Hermione giggles, and began to literally, skate circles around him. He glared at her.

"When I get the hang of this Granger, you're going to be in SOOO much trouble!" He hissed.

Hermione smiled sweetly at him, "Good luck Draco."

He rolled his eyes.

Once the cold set in, and students began trickling back and uncharming their shoes, everyone made their way back to the great hall for the feast.

Though the group was small, the experience was big. Whole turkeys and hams, mashed potatoes, hot, fresh rolls, followed by hot chocolate, puddings, fruit cobblers, and every sweet imaginable.

Some of the elves joined in, and they made special dishes so the ghosts could taste them.

Hermione managed to have a conversation with Collin without crying. The holiday spirit was too high, and the experience was too joyous.

When all the under 17 students stumbled back to their rooms, Professor Sprout broke out a bottle of firewhiskey.

"To new beginnings!" She said in a toast, as tumblers appeared. Students and professors all joined in on the toast, giggling as it went down smoothly.

McGonagall, as it turned out, was a giggly drunk, and a lightweight on top of that. After two glasses, she was tipsy. Hermione bit back her laugh. It was a small crowd, but the spirits were high, and Hermione went to bed with a warm fuzzy feeling that wasn't caused by the alcohol.

Hermione fell asleep curled up in Draco's arms. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter. I had A LOT of fun writing it actually! (I know some of the words are redundant, I tried to find synonyms, nothing came to mind).  
> Review and leave Kudos!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hop you enjoy this take. As I've said before, this is about healing, and I've put my demented sense of humor in this story (AND I DID A LOT OF MATH/RESEARCH FOR THIS CHAPTER WHEN IT COMES TO TIME CONSISTENCY! YOU'RE WELCOME!)  
> Review and leave Kudos!

Narcissa found herself staring longingly outside the bay window in the sitting room of the manor. Her garden was dead in the winter, snow covered the vines of the rose bushes, the lilac bushes against the gate were bare, the fountains were turned off, and everything was covered in a fine layer of snow.

She was disappointed that her son declined returning home for the holidays, and that he chose to stay at Hogwarts with Hermione Granger. It was frustrating because so much had been done to protect his future as a pure-blood wizard, yet here he was, fraternizing with, not necessarily the enemy, but an undesirable.

Narcissa Malfoy had done everything she could for her family. Yet it was never enough. She was pregnant with Draco during the first downfall of the Dark Lord. When the trials came, she had just given birth to Draco, and was dealing with heavy postpartum depression, the Wizengamot, council overlooked her, seeing nothing more than a hysterical mother who wouldn't stop crying for her son.

The second time around, she had been a docile housewife, who protected Harry Potter all in the name to save her son, Draco.

Narcissa had spent little time with Harry Potter, running into him a few times at Diagon Alley, and meeting him only a few times during the war. Yet she was very familiar with his mother from their school days.

Narcissa remembered Lily Potter from school. Harry truly did have her eyes.

When Severus was being tormented relentlessly by Lily's future husband, Lily could be found comforting him in the library. Narcissa had once stumbled upon them while looking for Lucius.

"Severus, don't listen to James. He's an idiot. A stupid, eleven-year-old idiot." Lily whispered.

Severus sniffled, "I know, but when you're not there, he's so mean."

Narcissa stepped in, "Severus, the great Salazaar Slytherin would not be pleased to find you cowering from some Gryffindor jerk. The little mudblood is correct. He's a stupid eleven-year-old."

Lily rolled her eyes as Severus snapped his head up, "Narcissa, don't call Lily that. It's not nice."

"It's okay Severus," Lily cooed, "She just doesn't know my name."

Narcissa sighed, and sat down on the floor with them, arranging her legs so her legs were closed, "Look, whoever you are, little Gryffindor, and Severus, this James Potter, he's just a simpleton Gryffindor. He's brash, overzealous, and easily manipulated. Severus, you are Slytherin, stop cow-towing to some stuck up Gryffindor. Be more cunning, think things out. This little Gryffindor is a book of knowledge for you to use. She knows things about James that we don't. Use that to your advantage. Ruin him, play the long game. So he made you cry today, that is fine, well it's not fine. But you're going to move on. Today you cry, three weeks from now, you ruin him. Let's think this out, little Gryffindor, what does this 'James' fellow like."

Lily sighed, "He likes me, he likes his hair, his broomstick, and his friends."

"There you go Severus, now what can you do with that?" Narcissa asked, her cherry red lips pursed, and hr stark blonde hair cascading around her face as she leaned in close, "How can you ruin him?"

Severus sniffed, "I could break his broom?"

"Not good enough. He's a Potter. He'll know it was you, you'll get detention, and he'll get a new broom from his parents." Narcissa said with a smirk.

"Lily could break his broom?" Severus asked, looking at Lily.

Lily glared, and slapped him on the back of his head, "I don't want detention either."

Narcissa chuckled.

"Well Narcissa, what would you do?" The fiery little redhead asked.

Narcissa threw her head back and laughed. "Lily, who are his friends?"

"Sirius, Remus, and Peter. What about them?"

"Severus, what's my last name?"

"Black, and you come from the long line of pureblood heritage," Severus mocked.

Lily stared at her, "Are you Sirius's cousin?"

Narcissa nodded, "Yes, he was my favorite cousin. Until he was put in Gryffindor. I was forced to disown him. But I can tell you loads about him and how to annoy him."

Lily started to catch on, "But most importantly, how to annoy him and get him to think that it's James who is doing it."

That is when it clicked in Severus's mind, "So we drive a wedge between those two, like, make James' hair get messed up, and frame Sirius. James will do something to Sirius, Sirius will break his broom, and at the end of the day, he still doesn't get Lily."

Narcissa chuckled, "That is correct Severus. Now, do you think you two can figure this out, or do I need to stay?"

Lily smiled, "I think we're good Narcissa. And by the way, Lucius went that way," Lily pointed to the restricted section. "He wasn't as nearly as friendly as you. He called Severus a weeping baby."

Narcissa stood up gracefully and dusted off her skirt, "That is the difference between us and you. Slytherins use tough love, Lucius is trying to harden Severus. While you are nurturing, cooing, and babying him, we are preparing him for the unkind real world. Be wary little lioness, you're entering the realm of the snakes. Let me know if you need any more help, or an alibi. I'm more than willing to offer my assistance."

Lily forced a smile as the older witch disappeared into the many bookcases in search of her beloved.

"We'll get him back, Severus. And I'll help however I can." Lily promised with a smile.

Narcissa sighed quietly, the friendship between them was cute, but it wouldn't last. It never does between snakes and lions.

The memory made Narcissa smile. Hermione Granger reminded her a lot of little Lily Potter from her old Hogwarts days. It's same that Potter couldn't be with Granger, then this issue wouldn't happen, Draco would be with a nice pureblood witch because Miss Granger would be unavailable. If only Potter knew how much Hermione was like Lily.

Narcissa wished the best for her son, and if it were any other universe, she would approve of the bushy haired Gryffindor. She was smart, beautiful, cunning, ambitious, but also a mudblood and a Gryffindor. She wished her son hadn't fallen in love.

She went to her private study, sat down, took out her quill and a piece of parchment and wrote a letter to Lucius.

Dear Lucius,  
I don't know what to do about Draco and his infatuation with Hermione Granger. Please advise.  
With Love,  
Narcissa

She hoped that her husband would be able to help from Askaban. There wasn't much to be done, but she could try. She would probably never change Draco's mind, and at this point, he would stay with Hermione out of spite.

But by god, she would try.

It took a few days for response to get back to her from Askaban. They were very tight with the letters received and sent, nobody wanted another prison break planned through the mail. Lucius's response arrived a few days after Christmas.

My darling wife Narcissa,  
I have thought long and hard about this problem for weeks now. I too, am frustrated by this development. We both know though, that he has never been this serious about a woman. I am disappointed that of all people, he chose a dirty blooded witch. Draco is an adult now, and we no longer can correct him. All we can do now is hope that the lessons that we taught him as a child will stay with him. Hopefully, he will find that he is making a mistake, and we can only pray that he will find a nice, pureblooded witch. But we no longer have a say in his life.  
Draco sees something in her that I don't. We should trust him. My advice is to let him be, he will do what he thinks is best. We had seventeen years to prepare him for the world outside of the manor, and now we must let him make his own decisions and choices. I do not like this at all, but there is nothing we can do about it.  
I hope the winter isn't too hard on you, and I long to be with you again. Perhaps this Miss Granger can get me out of here quicker so I can be with you again.  
Happy Christmas and Happy New Year.  
With all my love,  
Lucius Malfoy

Narcissa reread the letter two more times, and sighed. Her husband was right. Draco was old enough to make his own choices and mistakes. She didn't have to like it, ultimately though, it was Draco's life.

She took out her parchment and quill, and wrote two letters. One to her husband thanking him for his advice, and the second one to a Miss Hermione Granger, inviting her to the Easter festivities. At the Malfoy ocean side cottage. Narcissa chuckled darkly to herself. Hermione Granger would rather die than set foot inside the manor again. Narcissa was bitterly sure of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a set up chapter, and a kind of, one-shot that I wanted to work in. I feel like people forget that Lily and Severus had a friendship (AM NOT A SNILY SHIPPER) and Severus also had a relationship with his housemates. I just really like that idea and I hope y'all like it to! Like I said, this is a set up chapter.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this seems like a large jump from Christmas to April, but I expect you guys to remember how boring school was and how many uneventful parts happen. This is mainly set up. So enjoy, review and leave kudos!

The rest of the Christmas holiday went by quickly and soon students returned to school a few days after the new year. Things started off normally, but around Valentine's Day, things began to heat up.

Hermione accepted Narcissa's invite to the sea side cottage. Part of it was at the insistence of Draco, the other part was curiosity. It was going to be interesting to see how Narcissa reacted. Hermione was just glad that they were going to a sea side cottage as opposed to the manor. If it had been at the manor, she would have said no.

Someday, she would return to the manor, but not when the pain was so fresh and it was less than a year since she had been tortured by Bellatrix. It would already be difficult dealing with Bellatrix's sister, but Andromeda was also Bellatrix's sister; Hermione would perservere.

She could see in Draco's eyes that he was appreciative that Hermione would try to get along wit his mother. As strained as his relationship with his parents was, they were still his parents.

Starting in March, hushed whispers were going around at Hogwarts. The words "death eater" were being thrown around carelessly. People were glaring at Draco again.

Things had gotten better in the past few months, with less side glares directed at Draco. His relationship with Hermione had a lot to do with that. The way that everyone saw it was, if Hermione approved of him for some odd reason, then the rest of the wizarding world should try to as well.

Yet people started to glare at him again in the hallways. It was a few of the members of Dumbledore's Army, along with some of the students who had fought in the battle of Hogwarts.

Draco kept his head down and decided to not engage with the students. It would harm his delicate relationship with the post-war wizarding world.

Hermione noticed it though, and she would shoot death glares at people who talked badly about Draco. The voices got quieter though, and soon those conversations were taken into the depths of the library, empty classrooms, the edge of the forest, and into the individual common rooms.

There weren't that many people talking about ending the death eaters, but there were enough people discussing it.

McGonagall had noticed it too, but the conversations weren't loud enough to be caught, and once a teacher got close, the conversations ended.

But she could feel something brewing, something that would not be good for the school. And she didn't like it one bit. Yet she had no proof.

Draco Malfoy was in love. He didn't realize it at first, but he felt warm whenever Hermione walked into a room. When she scrunched her nose while reading a ministry document. 

Whenever she hummed softly to herself while making a cuppa on a rainy Sunday morning, the Daily Prophet in one hand, a mug in another. When she would pet Crookshanks while staring at the fire, her mind elsewhere. When she raised her hand in class to answer a particularly hard question. Her briefings for the prefects, her essay writing, and perfect penmanship.

Draco Malfoy finally realized that he was in love with the bushy haired witch when, for once, he woke up before her. It was an early Saturday morning in early April, usually she was the first to wake up, always ready for the day. Yet he beat her today.

He stared at her sleeping form, the light snoring, her hair like a mane, engulfing her face. The delicate kisses of freckles across her face, and her eyelashes resting gently on her cheeks.

He smiled, deciding that he wanted to wake up to this every morning for the rest of his life. He wanted to wake up to this, incredibly brilliant, bushy haired witch, who snored in her sleep, read books too fast, and liked her tea with milk and three sugars.

Her eyes fluttered opened, and she found Draco staring at her with a goofy grin on his face.

She scrunched her nose, "Everything okay Malfoy?"

He chuckled, "Everything is absolutely perfect Hermione."

Draco decided that he wouldn't tell her that he was falling for her. At least, not until after Easter. Or maybe while they were at the cottage.

Either way, he was going to wait. He didn't want it to be a fluke of nature, to get her hopes up, and his hopes if he was being honest, only to find that he was simply infatuated with her and that his infatuation would fade.

Yet he had never felt this way about a girl before. Sure, he had been involved with other women in the past, Pansy Parkinson (totally high maintenance), Astoria Greengrass (too docile for his liking, needed someone to challenge him), along with a few others here and there; but Hermione was the first person to make him want to be better. To actually challenge him intellectually, and make him want to atone for his previous sins.

She made him better as a person.

And he wanted to tell her that. But it was too soon. He'd tell her in a few weeks. He'd need to write it out though, so he didn't fuck up his words. He would have to memorize it, he didn't want to look like a sodding Hufflepuff, stumbling over his words as he read straight from a paper.

Hermione noticed the change in Draco's demeanor. She was no dumb bunny, and figured out early that he was going to say those three words. It almost amused her to see him so pained. She decided that she would wait for him to say it first, she wanted to see what he had planned.

She could feel her nerves set in for meeting Narcissa, as intrigued as she was, it was still nerve-wracking. Just because she testified on Narcissa's behalf, didn't mean that they were chummy best friends.

Finally, the date arrived, and Hermione packed a small bag that was bigger on the inside in preparation for the trip. Draco watched her from his bed as Hermione put some of her make up in his bag. As time went on, she just moved her dresser into his room, and moved Crookshanks toys and bed into his room. She cast an "illegal" charm on his closet to make it bigger. Again, she practically dared the ministry to try her on this; while she refused to have an air of superiority, they practically owed her, and Kingsley looked the other way.

The elves had also figure it out, and took turns swapping out Hermione's and Draco's bedding.

Hermione was essentially completely moved into Draco's room. He didn't mind in the least bit.

Hermione stopped packing, turned, and looked at him.

"Draco, are we rooming together or apart at the cottage?"

He pondered the question, "I have no idea, I hadn't thought of that."

"I'd rather room together, but I don't know how your mother feels about our relationship, while I plan on continuing it with or without her approval, I'd like to room with you."

"You're going to end up in my bed every night, she's probably anticipating it. We'll see when we get there. We're leaving tomorrow so I'm not going to owl her. Are you sure that you're ready to deal with her, you don't have to if you don't want to." He said, his quicksilver eyes wide with worry.

Hermione sighed, "I'll be fine. It's better that it happens sooner rather than later. One of those rites of passage that I should get done."

"I really wish that I could meet your parents. I genuinely do. Again, are you sure you don't want me to reach out-"

"Draco, no. We've messed with their minds enough. All the memory charms will end up turning them into Lockhart. I don't want to resign them to that awful fate. So please, I'll survive without them in my life. It's better this way."

"Okay, if you're sure. Just, let me know if you change your mind."

Hermione took a deep breath, "I will."

The rest of the night passed by quickly and the next day they were on the Hogwarts express. Hermione dragged Draco to sit with her, Ginny, Neville, and Luna.

Luna stared at him with wide eyes. Draco was starting to get creeped out a bit by it, but there was nothing he could do. He felt Neville glare at him a few times, but Neville would look away each time Draco returned his stare.

Hermione noticed the tension between them, and started talking to Neville about Hannah Abbott. That distracted Neville enough that he ignored Draco for the rest of the ride.

About an hour before arrival at Kings Crossing, Ginny turned her attention to Draco.

"Your mother isn't going to Avada Hermione is she?" Ginny asked, her eyes hard.

Draco forced a laugh, "No, she's tolerating our relationship. I'm assuming that she hopes that Granger and I break up, and she might be difficult, but she's not going to avada her."

Ginny glared, "If she does, I will murder you in front of her, then murder her. Understood?"

Draco swallowed, "Completely."

The rest of the ride, the only person who acknowledge Draco was Hermione, who gave him a hand squeeze right before they pulled into the station.

Draco took a deep, calming breath.

Hermione smiled at him as she stood up to get her bag, "You okay?"

"I'm fine Granger," he grumbled, rising gracefully. "This is just, it's just going to be a new experience. That's all. At least we're not dealing with my father. Maybe in a few years."

Hermione chuckled darkly as she followed Ginny off of the train, "I've already dealt with your father. It's your mother who concerns me. She's more poised. Your father, I can read him. Your mother, she controls her facial expressions."

Draco chuckled, "Have you genuinely cracked my father?"

Hermione stepped off the train after Ginny, "I made his eye twitch."

"Congrats, even I could never do that."

Molly came over to Ginny and hugged her, then turned to Hermione, "Now Hermione," she started, hugging the bushy haired witch, "If at any moment, you feel uncomfortable, feel free to aparate to the Burrow. We will take you at any moment. Understood?"

Hermione nodded, "Yeah, but I think I'll be okay Molly. I'm not afraid of her."

Molly put her hands on Hermione's shoulders, and gave her a soft smile, "You're so brave Hermione. You're like my daughter, and I'm so proud of you."

Hermione returned her smile and hugged her again, "Thank you Molly. I'm glad that I have you in my life."

Draco watched the exchange from the corner of his eye, while he looked for his mother. She was standing in the back of the crowd behind the rest of the families. Hermione went and stood next to Draco.

"You ready for this 'Mione?"

Hermione nodded, "Yep. Let's do this."

Draco gave her a small smile, took her hand, and led her over to his mother.

"Mrs. Malfoy, it's a pleasure to meet you again," Hermione said, forcing a smile. She held out her hand and Narcissa took it.

"Please Hermione, call me Narcissa. And it is delightful to meet you under, more pleasant, circumstances," Narcissa replied, a small smile playing on her face.

Hermione released Narcissa's hand and they walked through the wall together. Draco took Hermione's hand in his as they crossed to the other side.

They left Kings Crossing and walked down the street in silence until they reached a vacant alley to aparate from.

"We're going to do a side aparation since you've never been to the cottage before," Draco said nonchalantly, wrapping his arm around Hermione's waist.

He didn't give her a chance to argue as he said the incantation and they disappeared with a muted pop.

They landed on the edge of a gravel driveway somewhere on the coast of the Dover Cliffs. Hermione looked around as the sea breeze ruffled her hair. Narcissa appeared next to them with a pop. Narcissa forced a smile as she led them up the driveway to the door.

Pushing it open, Hermione stepped through the threshold and was greeted with an nautical theme for décor. Hermione kept her grin to herself as she looked at all of the blues and ivory furniture, and the sea shell themed décor.

It wasn't tacky per say, but it wasn't something that she would suspect.

"I don't know what you two do at Hogwarts, I do not wish to know. But I will let you choose your sleeping situation, you are both adults." Narcissa said dismissively.

Draco took her hand and started to lead her down a hall to the right, "Come on Hermione, I'll show you the room and you can get unpacked. Please do not forget that you are a witch and that you can use magic to unpack."

Hermione kept the smile to herself. She allowed Draco to lead her down the hall, but spared a glance back at Narcissa.

A pained expression flashed over Narcissa's face, but she quickly covered it up when she saw Hermione looking. Her face went to neutral.

The next few days were painful, Hermione regarding the elder witch coolly. She wasn't sure how to approach the matriarch of the Malfoy family. It was an odd situation that was better dealt with sooner rather than later.

Narcissa was also struggling with how to deal with the situation. She watched her son interact with Hermione, and found that the two of them were completely in harmony with each other. They seemed to have a perfect understanding of one another and moved together seamlessly. She found them often curled together on the loveseat in front of the fire, reading their respective books. Hermione only spent the first day of the holiday working on her homework, but apparently she finished it and spent the rest of her time reading.

She found Draco reading a muggle novel at one point. It intrigued Narcissa; her son had never seemed happier. Sometimes she found Hermione absently minded playing with Draco's hair, his head in her lap. He was just laying there as Hermione read a book. She read a lot more than Draco, but that seemed to endear him.

They spent a lot of time walking around the cliffs, taking in the sights.

Narcissa sighed to herself. When dinners happened, Hermione engaged Narcissa with intriguing conversation. Narcissa found herself liking the little muggleborn more and more,  
it was frustrating. Narcissa wanted to hate her, but it was almost impossible.

She found herself looking at Hermione's forearm often. Hermione only wore sweaters to hide her arm. It was the same as Draco, where they hid their war scars. It pained Narcissa to know that her sister's handiwork was etched into the flesh of a lovely girl. Narcissa found herself caring more and more for the young witch.

Yet she would never admit it. There was still an air of awkwardness between them. Something that would need to be confronted. Their individual past transgressions clashed.

Then it hit halfway through break.

It was late at night, maybe early morning, Hermione wasn't sure. But she was sure that she couldn't sleep. She looked at Draco's form and decided that he would survive a few minutes without her.

Standing up, she put on her flats, forgoing the usual slippers, wanting to a take a walk along the cliffs. She pulled on a coat, while it was April, the ocean chill would set in.

Hermione gently closed the door behind her, and left through the sliding doors in the living room.

She started towards an overlook of one of the cliffs and noticed a willowy figure in the distance. Hermione mentally prepared herself to deal with Narcissa one-on-one. It was going to happen eventually and she might as well get it out of the way when Draco was completely unaware.

Hermione made no move to remain quiet. The elder witch probably already knew that Hermione was outside and headed towards her. Narcissa didn't acknowledge Hermione for a few minutes as the younger witch stood next to her.

After about five minutes of tense silence, Narcissa spoke.

"I hope that you understand that it is difficult for me to have Draco seeing a non-pureblood witch. I could bitterly swallow a half-blood, but a," Narcissa stiffed, "muggleborn, is harder to deal with. I harbor no ill-will to you personally, I just had higher hopes for my son's children. You are wonderful person, and I genuinely wish that you were pureblood. I begrudgingly approve of you."

Hermione stood there for a few moments, choosing her next words carefully, "Draco makes me happy. And I hope that I make him happy. If you asked me last year if I would be romantically involved with Draco Malfoy, I would have suggested you for admittance into St. Mungos. Your son has grown exponentially as a person. After spending more time with you, I can see traces of you in him. I know that he acts like he doesn't care for you or his father, but it genuinely pains him to have his life like this. I am happy that you are putting up with our relationship. I can give no assurance that it will end soon or if we will marry, but Draco are living in the present, avoiding the past, and taking each day at a time."

A faint smile danced on Narcissa's mouth, "You are good for him. He seems happier. Happier than I've seen him in a long time. When the Dark Lord was residing in our home, he was miserable, I think he was almost ready to give up on life. I'm glad that he didn't. Those were dark times for us as a family." Narcissa turned to Hermione with a sharp look, "I did not support the Dark Lord's obsession with the murdering of muggleborns. I still think that your kinds is inferior, yet I do not think that you should be wiped out. I do not control my son. I just hope that you won't break him."

Hermione was taken aback but maintained her composure, "I'm more concerned about losing him. I'm not good at letting people in, but I let him in. I don't want to lose him."

"I'm glad we have an understanding. Expect me to regard you coolly, but I don't hate you Ms. Granger. Now, do you think that there is any possibility of getting my husband out sooner?"

Hermione sighed, "Harry hasn't given me a report on the raids yet, but I think that the lighthouse one went successful. And I know that they have been monitoring the factory. But I have so much other work, that, no offense, but it hasn't been on my top ten priority list. Harry's testimonial will be important."

"If it's any consolation, Lucius agrees with me. We don't control our son. While we are not happy with his choice of you, we will tolerate it. You make him happy, and that's the most we can ask for right now. We hope to atone for our sins by making sure our son and his future family is well taken care of."

Hermione smiled for real, "Thank you Narcissa, I admire that."

Narcissa regarded her, "Nobody will ever tell you this, mainly because nobody is still alive from that era except your professors, but you remind me so much of Mr. Potter's mother. Lily was a force to be reckoned with, always ready to help Severus. House loyalty didn't matter to her when it came to her friends and doing what was right. Brilliant mind. For a muggleborn, I admired her. Yes, I interacted with her. Hard not to with Severus hanging onto her every word for the last few years that I was at Hogwarts. Go back to bed Ms. Granger. Young witches need sleep."

Hermione smiled again, "Again, thank you Narcissa, I'm glad that we had this talk and that we have an understanding of each other. I do not hope much for the future, but I do hope that we will be on friendlier terms."

"Perhaps, we shall see."

Hermione quickly returned to the warm bed next to Draco. He noticed her absence subconsciously, and when she returned to him, one of his arms flung over her form, pulling her closer to him.

Hermione drifted back to sleep, the words that Narcissa spoke resting heavily on her mind.

The next few days passed quickly. Draco still wasn't aware of what had happened, but the chill between the most important women in his life had lessened. Narcissa wasn't glaring at Hermione as much, and Hermione wasn't walking on egg shells around his mother.

Draco decided to just accept it as it was and just be happy that they were getting along. Easter dinner went by quickly, and before they knew it, they were on the train back to Hogwarts, Narcissa watching them warily from the back of the crowd.

Hermione and Draco were the first to arrive back in the compartment. Neville joined them a few minutes later, Luna immediately after, and finally Ginny joined. She came bearing presents.

"Mum wasn't sure where to send these, so she just sent them with me. She might approve of her relationship, but she chooses to not know where your additional homes are Draco." Ginny said, giving Hermione a large, chocolate Easter Egg, along with a few more sweets. She gave Draco an Easter egg, and some more sweets. "Mum says happy Easter!"

Hermione smiled, and opened the package of fudge, "Thank you, Ginny. I'll send Molly a note later. How was your holiday?"

"Pretty good. Everyone came, 'cept Percy. He found himself 'busy.' George asked about you. Hermione, I need you to be straight with me, did you and George, do anything?"

Hermione laughed, "That is between your brother and I, so don't concern yourself with it."

Ginny laughed, "That is all the confirmation that I need."

Hermione ignored her and chose to focus on Luna, who began a story about how her father and her embarked on a journey to find some, obscure, made up creature. But Luna had fun, and that was all that really mattered.

The trip back to Hogwarts went quickly. Hermione and Draco went up to the front for a few hours to deal with Head Boy and Girl duties. It was an uneventful trip.

Arriving back at Hogwarts felt like arriving home, and Hermione knew that she would be sad to leave it behind in a few months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah me, all done with chapter 13! So I've worked it so that chapter 14 and 15 will be SUPER eventful and 'fun,' I find violence 'fun.' Work with me! I will have an epilogue that will be cute! I'm looking forward to it! I'm going to try to drop 14 and 15 practically together. I want to do it that way so that it is done and over with. Give me a few days to get them both completely done! And the epilogue will also take a few days. My job requires me staying awake until like, midnight. I'll end up sleeping in until like, noon every day. It's exhausting but fun!  
> Wish me luck!  
> Review, follow, fave!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to finish posting this entire story today! I've got some time!

Draco was pacing in the common room. It had been a week since they arrived back at Hogwarts, and Draco was finally going to tell her that he loved her. It was more stressful than it should have been.

He had everything set out. He had visited Winky the day before, he had caught her on a good day, so between her and a few of the other house elves, they made a dessert buffet of sorts. The elves found it incredibly romantic. While Hermione's attempts to 'free' them third year annoyed them like no other, it was the thought that counted.

Hermione was in the library again, working on some independent research for the ministry. Or so she thought. Draco had owled the prime minister, asking for him to come up with a fake assignment that would require the restricted section. Draco said he had something planned for a major milestone in the Dramione relationship and would appreciate a bit of help in creating an excuse to give him some time.

He stopped pacing and reviewed everything once again. The red roses were placed on the table neatly. Candles were lit around the room, creating a nice ambiance. The blanket was on the floor in front of the hearth, along with enough pillows to make a two-story fort. There were trays after trays of various sweets, chocolates, candies, and pastries.

Draco blushed at the thought of Hermione feeding him, and him feeding Hermione. That was going to be incredibly sensual.

He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. What if this was too much? What if she didn't like it? This was the first time he actually put effort into planning something romantic for anyone ever. Yeah, he had gotten women nice gifts that were sentimental and sweet, but he hadn't planned an actual romantic dinner or treat for anyone ever. He had just thrown money at them. Hermione wasn't that kind of girl, she wasn't materialistic.

The portrait behind him opened and he turned to greet Hermione.

Her face was screwed up in concentration as she walked while reading a book. She slung her bag off her shoulder with one hand and moved to sit down, her eyes never leaving the page.

Draco coughed, forcing her to look up. She seemed annoyed.

"What is it Draco?" Hermione asked.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her, "Really?"

Hermione finally looked around the common room and found it decorated. She softly closed her book, "Oh."

Draco chuckled and motioned for her to sit own in front of the fire.

Hermione dropped her things on the chair as she walked to the fire and sat down on the blankets, surrounded by pillows. Draco sat next to her.

"Did you do all of this yourself?" Hermione asked softly.

"No, the elves helped. Especially Winky." Draco replied.

He picked up a strawberry and held it to her lips. Hermione opened her mouth and Draco slipped the berry into her mouth. Hermione bit own and moaned softly as she savored the fruit.

Draco watched her chew, her eyes closed. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers when she swallowed.

Hermione returned his kiss.

When they separated, Hermione held a berry to his lips, watching him chew the berry, maintaining eye contact with her the entire time.

This continued for a bit. Sometimes they fed themselves, sometimes each other. They talked about the upcoming bill on Centaur rights.

Hermione curled into his side and they fell into a comfortable silence, their bellies full of sweets. Draco's arm wrapped around her waist.

He opened his mouth to speak. "Hermione," he choked out.

She looked up, "Yes, Draco?"

"Hermione, I-" Draco choked. He felt like those three words, eight letters, weren't enough to express his feelings for her; but it was enough at the same time.

Hermione knew what he wanted to say. And she wanted to say it back. But he was stumbling over his words. It was adorable in a way, to be honest.

She sat up placed her hand on the back of his neck, pulling his head down to hers. Their noses touched as her lips danced across his.

"Just say it mon amour." she whispered against his lips.

"I love you," he said quietly.

"I love you too," she replied softly, before kissing him passionately.

Having sex with Draco Malfoy was one thing. It was hot, passionate, and frenzied. The need to be consumed would engulf his partner. It was hot bodies meshed together, forming one, it was illicit moans, and a fast paced affair.

Making love with Draco Malfoy was a completely different. It was slow, and caring. It was Draco's fingertips dancing along her hip, holding her to him. It was his hand on her cheek, his lips gently pressed against hers. His captivating stare, watching her every facial expression to make sure that she was enjoying it.

Making love with Draco Malfoy was intense. His mercury eyes raking over her body, his hands attentive, his lips gentle on her neck. There was no leaving of hickeys, or bruised flesh from grabbing too hard and no scratch marks. It was hushed proclamations of love in each other's ears. Draco burying his face in Hermione neck, whispering it to her body. Him pledging his everything to her. It was pure bliss.

The afterglow was amazing, and Hermione found herself curled into him, her head on his chest, a position she tended to avoid because it caused a kink in her neck. But having him hold her, and trying to get their bodies as close together as they comfortably could was worth it.

Draco played with her hair absentmindedly, his other hand holding hers. He felt warm inside, a good kind of warm, Usually, he would be engaging in foreplay, preparing for a second or third round, but this, this was nirvana. Just lying there with the woman that he loved. They stayed in comfortable silence, nothing needing to be said, everything had been communicated a few minutes earlier.

They continued to lie there until Crookshanks, tired of being ignored, jumped onto the bed and walked onto Hermione's chest, paws directly on his breasts.

"Ow! Crookshanks!" Hermione shouted, sitting up and knocking him off of her, "What gives?"

Crookshanks looked up at her expectantly, "Mwreow."

"Has he been fed?" Draco asked, sitting up on his elbows.

"Yes. But I'll give him more food just in case. He's just being a needy jerk!" Hermione hissed, glaring at her familiar.

Crookshanks lazily jumped off the bed as Hermione followed him, pulling the comforter off the bed and using it as a robe as she walked to the bathroom to feed him.

Draco felt the chill set in, he took his wand off the stand and pointed it at the fireplace. A few more logs lifted themselves and landed in the fire. The room got a little bit warmer.

Hermione followed Crookshanks into the bathroom and found his bowl to only be half empty. But Crooshanks could see the bottom, so obviously he was starving. Hermione sighed and gave him another scoop of food.

Crookshanks purred and wrapped himself around her legs. Hermione bent down and petted him for a few moments before standing up and looking at herself in the mirror.

A mere few months ago, the vanity had consisted of a comb, a razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, and shaving crème. That was it. And now that Hermione had moved in, the vanity had been taken over by her hair products, make up brushes, tweezers, everything a girl could ever use. There were hints of Draco in there, a half empty bottle of his after shave, his green toothbrush, a new comb.

But their lives had become intermingled. They now shared the same tube of toothpaste, Draco would never admit it, but he did often steal Hermione's vanilla body wash as opposed to his body soap.

Hermione tore her eyes from the shared life surrounding her, and focused on her reflection. Her hair was tussled, and she had the standard 'just left bed' look, but her skin was glowing. Her face was flushed, her eyes wide, and her skin was practically pink. She held in the small gasp.

This is what it looked like to be in love.

Hermione was taking too long for Draco's liking. He got out of bed and left the sheets on it, almost regretting it immediately, as the floor was cold and the air was nippy.

He walked quickly to the bathroom door, and opened it to find Hermione staring at herself in the mirror.

"Come along, Granger. I'm really cold and want you back in bed." He said cheerily. He went up to her and removed one of her hands from the blanket, wrapping it around himself as well.

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned towards him, a smile playing on her lips. "Fine, only because I'm also cold."

Draco smiled as he led her back to bed. They returned to bed for the rest of the night, savoring their time together,

They fell into a blissful sleep, cocooned in each other's warmth.

Crookshanks found himself sitting in the windowsill, glaring at the forest. Something was brewing, he and the other animals had been discussing it. They didn't like it one bit. He wished he could tell Hermione exactly what was happening. But she didn't speak cat. While the extra food was nice, he was trying to warn her. Best to just let her rest for what was coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, I really like cats, and the communication barrier between my cat and I is frustrating, especially when I want to tell him to stop stepping on my boobs. So I figured I'd add my frustrations to this story.


	15. CHapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super short, I know, but I liked the cut. 16 will be up momentarily. WELCOME TO THE CLIMAX!

Sirens were going off. Hermione jumped out of Draco's bed and threw on her clothes. Those sirens only meant one thing and it wasn't good. She grabbed her wand and dashed down the stairs, calling for her shoes to land in front of her. Slipping her feet into them, Draco followed her downstairs, his wand also in hand.

"What's going on?" He asked, bathed in the morning light. The remnants of their romantic night still laid on the floor.

"Those are the invasion sirens. Someone has betrayed us. We need to get ready to fight." She replied.

Hermione dashed out of the portrait, heading down stairs wand pointed and ready for battle. There were a few second years running and screaming. A larger student, wearing a bird mask came running behind them, wand pointed at the ready.

Hermione stopped in her tracks and fired a spell at the older kid. The second years stopped and physically hid behind Hermione. The older student fell to the floor, their face on fire from a stinging hex.

Hermione turned around and pushed the small children towards the portrait to her room. As Draco was stepping out of it, Hermione pushed the children inside of it.

"Stay here, stay safe. When everything is safe again, I'll come get you. Do not leave here. Understood?"

One of the Ravenclaws nodded. Hermione closed the door, leaving them to themselves.

She marched back over to the older student and pulled off the mask. Lying on the ground, clutching his face, was Terry Boot.

"Terry, what the hell?" Hermione hissed.

Terry recovered then and jumped up to throw a hex at her. Hermione dodged and the hex hit the wall.

"Stupify," Draco shouted from behind Hermione. It hit Terry dead center in his chest. He fell to the floor. Draco conjured up charmed ropes, tying Terry up.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Hermione hissed to no one in particular.

"I don't know, but toss him in the corner, we have bigger fish to fry." Draco replied.

Hermione dashed down the moving stair cases, at times jumping from one stair case to another, not having the patience to wait for them all to move together. Draco followed her as best as he could.

Hermione came upon another older student who was shooting hexes at the few Slytherins that were left.

"Stupify!" she shouted, pointing her wand at them.

The attacker flew back and Hermione yanked off the mask. It was Padmil under the mask.

"God damnit!" Hermione hissed. She turned around to face the Slytherins, "Get back to your common room, barricade the door when all of your classmates are inside." She looked at the one fifth year student, "Vivian, guard the little ones. Use whatever defensive spells that you can to protect them. You are the eldest, protect your house mates."

Vivian nodded, and led the rest of the Slytherins to the dungeon.

Hermione fought her way down to the next floor, finding herself back to back with a familiar red headed witch.

Ginny pressed her back against Hermione's, her wand pointed out as she deflected hexes and curses hurled at her from three masked figures. "Do you have any clue what is going on?" she asked, trying to keep the panic from taking over her voice.

"No. It's insane Ginny. When Draco and I knocked out some of the attackers, they were Terry and Padmil. I don't know what is going on!" Hermione replied, deflecting a disarming charm and firing a stinging hex back at the attacker.

"What the actual bloody hell?" Ginny screeched, her hex finally hit one of her attackers, throwing them back against a wall hard. They hit it and crumbled to the floor in a pile. 

Hermione finished off her attacker in a similar fashion and turned to help Ginny with the final two.

One of the attackers fired a few curses at Ginny and then took off running towards the bell tower.

"Go, Hermione. I'll finish this one off." Ginny said.

Hermione tore off at the attacker, following him. She shouted hexes at them, and they shouted back. When they reached the top, the assailants mask fell off.

Hermione was aghast. "Cormic? What is going on?"  


Cormic McGlaggen smiled, "The cleansing, that's what's going on Ms. Granger."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, I know. But i like where it cuts off.  
> Heads up, when I wrote this for FF, I was writing it live, so like, 4 chapters in 4 hours! I powered through until 4 in the morning working on this fic. So if it feels rushed, it's because I binge wrote to get this fic done!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the future friends on the FB groups i shared this story to, welcome! To the old readers who are excited I finally updated, hello again! Hope you're not too annoyed with me! Please leave reviews and Kudos!

"Hermione, I'm doing what is right. There is a faction of us who want death eaters gone. They are all bad." Cormic said, his wand pointed at Hermione.

She held her wand up against him, "People change Cormic. It's these kind of reactions that cause rifts between the magical community. I'm disappointed in you."

"You can't use that kind of language and hope that you can change me. This needs to happen Hermione. You know in your heart that people don't change."

Hermione quickly put a shield charm and sent a hex at Cormic. He blocked it and fired one back at her. The battle began between the two of them. Hermione fought to get the upper hand, trying her best to overpower him. But he had been practicing. He was prepared for her spells.

"Crucio!" he shouted. It broke through Hermione's shield and she fell to the ground convulsing.

"You know I'm right Granger! I'm going to teach you a lesson obviously need." He said, an evil grin coming across his face.

Hermione screamed as the curse pulsed through her, memories of the manor coming back to haunt her. Her wand was next to her, almost out of reach, yet she grabbed it with her fingertips, and fought the curse, struggling to put up a shield.

It took 30 seconds to accomplish it, but she finally got it. The curse stopped and Hermione stood up.

"Do you REALLY think that I haven't practiced with that curse?" she huffed. "I took part of the Aurora training, having them cast that on me for hours, practicing stopping it. Just for that curse alone, you're going to rot."

Cormic growled and sent a stream of green light at her, shouting the killing curse.

Hermione ducked, barely missing it.

She realized that they were evenly matched, and the only way to stop him was to catch him off guard. She put up another shield, and charged at Cormic, knocking him off his feet. Their wands flew out of their hands as Hermione punched him in the face repeatedly. They engaged in a tussle, Cormic trying to throw her off his body to gain the upper hand. Hermione scratched her nails down his face, hitting his eye at one point.

He screamed as she punched him again, breaking his cheek bone. He managed to bring a fist up and hit her in the face too. Hermione felt her cheek bone break, but she was relentless.

Hermione placed her left hand on the ground, and punched him one last time, right in the nose, knocking him unconscious and shattering his nose.

Huffing, she stood up and got off him. She retrieved her wand, and picked his up. She snapped his wand in half and threw it to the side. Pointing her wand at him, she said clearly "Petrificus Totalus." His body stiffened.

At that moment, Harry came barging through the door, and found Hermione standing over Cormic's body.

"Are you alright Hermione?" He said, worry in his voice.

Hermione turned to him, a stream of blood creeping from a cut on her forehead, "Yeah. Cormic was the mastermind of this entire thing. He tried to cast the killing spell, also he cast the torture spell. That needs to be noted."

Harry nodded, "Well, the fighting downstairs is almost over, Ron was fighting a few last people, Malfoy was helping him. I just can't believe that these guys did all of this, I mean, it's shameful."

"I know Harry, I know. But it happened and obviously there is still a rift in the magical community. Do you know if any auroras defected?"

"Not yet, but a full investigation will be conducted."

Hermione nodded.

Just at that moment, Draco barged in, he ran to Hermione and took her face in his hands. "Hermione, you're bleeding," he said, worry in his voice.

"I'm fine Draco. Cormic got a few good hits in, that's all."

"He hit you?" Harry said sternly.

"Well, I hit him first. And I broke his wand, just in case he woke up and decided to go for it."

"Wait, did you knock him unconscious? Cause he's not moving. He looks asleep." Draco said, shock in his voice.

"Well, I casted the full-body bind hex, after I knocked him out. My punches have gotten better since third year."

Draco chuckled, "Well, let's get you to the infirmary. You have some bruises forming. Leave Potter to clean up the mess for once."

Hermione giggled. Harry grabbed her arm before she left, "Are you going to tell him that Cormic casted unforgivables?"

Hermione shook her head, "If I did, Draco would probably kill him. It wouldn't be a pretty sight."

Harry nodded and released her arm.

Draco held out his hand for Hermione to take, and then lead her down the stairs and directly to the infirmary.

"Shouldn't I check on everyone downstairs?"

"No," Draco responded, looking forward, "They're fine. The injured ones will make their way to the infirmary in their own time. How did you end up there fighting McLaggen?"

"Long story, but I followed him up the stairs when I saw him hex Ginny. I don't know what he wanted to do up there, but that's where he went."

"It's a bit messed up, that's where Dumbledore died."

"I know, but it is what it is. I'm just really tired Draco. I'm tired of all this fighting."

Draco stopped and turned to face her, "You're not going to break up with me over this, are you?"

Hermione smiled and shook her head, "No. I'll stay with you for as long as you'll have me. A few people disapproving our relationship isn't going to cause my feelings for you to waiver."

Draco nodded, "Good."

They continued to the infirmary where students were laying in cots. A team of healers from St. Mungo's had just arrived to assist with the injured. Draco sighed and conjured a chair for Hermione to sit in. A healer glanced their way and scurried over to them.

"Were you tortured in anyway? Because if you were, then you take precedence." He asked.

Hermione looked at Draco and sighed, "Yes, I was. But I'm fine. Just a broken cheek bone and a cut on my eye."

Draco growled, "I'm going to kill him."

"Chill the hell out Draco." She said.

"We are now realizing that the torture curse carries lasting effects on the victims." The healer continued.

"Fine, do what you must. Just hurry up, I've got places to be. You know what sucks the most, I just finished helping rebuild this place, and now I've got to do it again! All I wanted was a boring year, where I didn't have to worry about anything, like babysitting Harry, or facing Voldemort. I just wanted to focus on my NEWTS and my homework," Hermione ranted to no one in particular.

The healer chuckled as he waved his wand over her, causing her cheek bone to snap back into place, and the cut on her eyebrow to heal. Hermione could still feel the drying blood on her face, but she would deal with that later.

"Let me go grab a more experienced healer to perform the counter curse and make sure that the crucio curse is completely lifted."

Hermione nodded as the healer went off to grab Madam Pomfry who was closest. She waved her wand, and frowned.

"Miss Granger, how many times has that curse been put on you?" She asked, checking her wand for results.

"I don't know, like twenty something times." She shrugged.

Draco's face went white, "What? How? Why? When?"

"It was part of a training exercise. I took a few of the aurora classes to get training on things like that, just in case a death eater captured me for revenge. They had me practice resisting the effects, not giving compromising information, and they had me practice throwing the curse off. I had no interest in being an aurora, but I figured some of the training would come in handy after your aunt had fun with me."

Draco groaned, "You're going to be the death of me woman."

Madam Pomfry preformed a quick counterspell, "There, that should remove the ill effects. Tell me, do you dream about the curse and it causing you pain?"

Hermione nodded.

"Well this should make those phantom pains stop. After the war, we decided to investigate and see if we could stop those phantom pains. We could, so we did."

"Well, thank you. Am I free to go?"

"Yes, as long as young Mister Malfoy here is in okay shape."

"I am."

Hermione stood up and Draco ended the conjuring of the chair. They left the infirmary and headed to the great hall, though they didn't know where everything was happening, the great hall would be the best place to find out information.

"Have you really had the crucio curse put on you that many times?" Draco asked, his eyebrows scrunched together.

"Yes. Like I said, I took a few training exercises. It was the best way to prepare for an attack like that."

Draco sighed, "Even I didn't have that curse performed on me that many times. I should probably stop by later and get that curse removal thing."

"Probably."

They continued the rest of their journey to the Great Hall in silence. When they entered, they found the bodies of the dead lined up. There were few casualties, mainly Auroras, but not as many as the battle of Hogwarts. 3 of the dead were students. One of them was Slytherin.

Draco's face fell, "Oh no, not Nathaniel."

Hermione wrapped her arms around him, "I'm sorry, Draco."

In a separate row, there were the bodies of the petrified attackers. Cormic was being carried into the great hall at that moment. He was awake but still petrified. Hermione could feel his eyes glaring at her.

Harry smiled when he saw her and saw that her wounds were healed. Then Hermione felt a force hit her, in the form of a long haired red head.

"Oh thank goodness you're okay. Harry said that you were headed to the infirmary. I thought the worse." Ginny said.

"No, I'm fine. Cormic just got a few good hits in and broke my cheek." Hermione replied, returning Ginny's hug.

"That's what he was saying, that you got in a fist fight with Cormic. Best thing I've hear all day." Ginny replied, looking at Hermione's face.

Hermione forced a smile, "I'm just ready for all this stupid fighting to be over. Hopefully it will be over soon."

"I hope so too."

Ginny looked at Draco, "I'm sorry for the loss of your housemate. He was hit with a killing curse. I fired back at his attacker. It was a Hufflepuff name Jackson Hughs who fired the curse. I hexed him then body binded him. He's being taken to Askaban now. Nathaniel was the only victim. The rest of the casualties are Auroras, or attackers."

Draco nodded, "Thank you, Ginny. Nathaniel was a good student, a good kid. He had no connection to the cause. Has anyone been in touch with his family?"

Ginny nodded, "Yes, a ministry official is on his way to Nathaniel's house. Again, I'm sorry."

"I need to reach out. I'm paying for the funeral. I should have protected my housemate."

"Draco, you can't beat yourself up over this," Hermione said softly.

"Just, let me for right now. Please." Draco said softly.

"Just for now. Only because there are other matters to attend to." Hermione replied.

He nodded.

The next few hours were a blur as they rounded up the last of the anti-death eaters faction. It was almost night again when everything was finished and all the attackers were sent to Askaban for sorting.

Hermione stumbled back through the portrait, finding the second years sitting on the hearth, staring at the fire.

She sighed, "Come on, let's get you back to your common rooms. What are your houses?"

One of them looked up at her, "We're all Ravenclaw."

Hermione nodded, "Okay, easier for me."

She led the second years out of the portrait and up to the Ravenclaw common room. She passed a few of her friends on the way, giving them halfhearted waves. They reached the door to the common room and the eagle knocker opened its mouth to give them a riddle.

"Oh shut it," Hermione hissed, "I'm evoking Head Girl privileges. Open the damn door."

The eagle closed its mouth and the door opened.

"Okay, go to bed you guys. It's been a long night. Classes will probably be cancelled for a few days. But that's okay. If you call for an elf, they will bring you some food. Don't got walking about the castle. I don't want you to see anything."

The second years nodded and scurried into the door. The door closed behind them and the eagle glared at Hermione.

She rolled her eyes and went back to her common room where she found Draco waiting for her. He was in his chair with a glass of whiskey in his hand. He looked up at the sound of the portrait opening.

"Where did you go? I thought that you arrived before me." He asked, looking up at her.

"I forgot that I put some second years in here for their protection. I walked them back to the tower. Yelled at the knocker, it doesn't like me."

Draco forced a smile, and waved his hand, "Come here."

Hermione went over to him and sat in his lap. Her head rested on his shoulder, and her legs hung over the arm of the chair. Draco took another sip of his whiskey and rested his arm across Hermione's waist. His other arm curled around her body and his hand rested on her hip.

"Draco, I'm tired." Hermione mumbled, staring vacantly at the fire.

"Well, you're safe now. If you fall asleep, I'll just take you upstairs."

Hermione nodded, her eyes drooping and within a few minutes, she fell asleep on Draco's lap.

Draco finished his whiskey, and stared at the fire as Hermione snored lightly in his ear. So much was on his mind, and there was so little time to make it all happen. He huffed, and wrapped his arm under Hermione's legs. Slowly he stood up and carried Hermione to what could now be called, their bedroom.

He laid her down, tucking her under the covers and got himself ready for bed.

After showering and brushing his teeth, he crawled into bed next to Hermione and quickly fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review and leave kudos. So now, we're officially going to start the healing process. I promised this was a story about healing, it's filed under Hurt/Comfort for a reason.  
> Thank you for reading! Chapter 17 coming right up!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a LONG chapter. So I want to preface, this is not the experience of every person with a mental illness. This is MY experience. This is how I view my Borderline Personality Disorder, anxiety, and depression. I see it as an imbalance. If you are having trouble, please, reach out. Get help. Take it from me. It's worth it. I wanted to die at one point, but now i'm on the right meds, and EVERYTHING is better. It takes time, but it does get better. I promise.

The next week went by quickly. Hermione, having experience in rebuilding Hogwarts, spent all of her free time returning the hallowed halls to their former, FORMER glory. 

Professors continued with classes, but it wasn't as strenuous. They started handing out review material for those taking their OWLS and their NEWTS.

By the time the week was over, Hogwarts had been restored once more. Hermione passed out in front of the fire one night and was still in her chair when Draco found her.

He had been in the library studying for NEWTS. He wanted to give Hermione a bit of space to do her own studying. When he walked into the common room and found her passed out in her chair, he sighed.

Placing his bag on his desk, he walked over to Hermione's sleeping form, and picked her up. She stayed asleep as Draco carried her up to his room.

He gingerly laid her on the bed and took off her shoes. He pulled the blankets ontop of her and tucked her into bed. He smiled at her sleeping form as he kicked off his shoes and began undoing his tie and unbuttoning his shirt.

He hummed to himself as he got ready for bed. He was glad that he admitted his love to her. She was perfect in everyway to him. He was just sad that their bliss had been destroyed. He would help them find it again though.

Another week passed, and Hermione found herself sitting in the Great Hall, staring at the table.

"'Mione, what's wrong?" Ginny asked, setting her fork down.

"I think Draco is right. And George is right. All of you are right. I need to start seeing a therapist. Sleeping has been hard again. Not as bad as it was with the crucious curse effects, but hard enough. I just want through another MAJOR traumatic experience, my friends group nearly halved, and it's just so hard." Hermione said quietly, continuing to stare at the table.

Ginny sighed, "I fully support this; you desperately need therapy. I know that you are the strong one of all of us, but you need to take time to yourself. Self care is crucial. You need to be in tip top shape so you can continue to care for us. You're not weak because you need therapy, if anything you are strong for admitting that it is getting hard and seeking therapy."

Hermione nodded, and then looked up at the red headed witch, "You're right. I'll owl the therapist.

Hermione stood outside of the unassuming brown brick building in downtown muggle London. She knew that the therapist also helped muggles, but she was quickly focusing on witches and wizards.

Hermione took a deep breath and entered the building. She located the elevator and pressed three. The door opened to reveal a standard looking waiting room. There were basic still life art hanging on the wall, and a big, brown couch pushed against the wall. There were a few chairs scattered around the room. She looked in the corner and to the side of the door there was a receptionist sitting behind a desk.

Hermione forced a smile and walked to her. The receptionist looked up, "Are you Ms. Hermione Granger?"

Hermione nodded.

The receptionist handed her a clipboard and gave her instructions on how to fill out the paperwork. Hermione went to one of the chairs and worked on paperwork for about ten minutes. After going through basic health questions about her family's medical history, how Hermione would pay for these appointments, and her basic info, age, address, sex, etc.

Then she got to the survey, where it asked her how she had been feeling over the past few weeks.

She groaned and started filling it out. It dealt with on a scale from 1-10, if she had been depressed, thinking about hurting herself, hurting others, thinking if she would be better off dead. It asked about drinking and smoking habits, if she was pregnant or expecting. It had a few more questions, but she answered as truthfully as she could. This was the one place that she wouldn't have to fake being strong.

She finished the survey and paperwork, and took the clipboard back to the desk. The receptionist gave it a quick once over and told her to sit until the doctor came and got her.

Hermione sat in silence for about five more minutes, and then the door by the secretary opened.

A tall, lanky woman in a warm brown sweater, khaki slacks, and a pair of brown pumps came out. She had a dark brown bob cut to her chin, and a narrow face. She smiled at 

Hermione, "Ms. Granger, I'm Dr. Tills, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said, holding her hand out to Hermione.

Hermione quickly stood up and shook it, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well Dr. Tills."

"Well come on back and let's get this started."

Dr. Tills led Hermione through the door and down a hallway. There were doors on each side. They stopped about halfway down the hallway where a plaque was on the door, and with neat block writing, had Dr. Ginger Tills, printed on it.

Dr. Tills opened the door and held it for Hermione. Once Hermione was in the room, Dr. Tills closed the door and took a seat on an armchair.

Hermione sat in the chair across from her; she placed her bag on the floor, took a deep breath, and let it out smoothly.

Dr. Tills looked over her clipboard, looking at Hermione's history and the answers to the survey.

"Hermione, you may call me Ginger. I might be a doctor, but I want us to have a good relationship. A good, first name basis relationship means that you'll trust me more. Does that sound fine to you?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes, makes perfect sense."

"Now, Hermione. I know we have a lot to go over, and I hope that within the next few weeks, we can work through all of these problems, but right now, I'm relatively concerned about your drinking. You drink how many glasses of whiskey a night?" Ginger asked, a bit surprised.

"Honestly, it depends on the night. If it's Friday night, and I'm not on schedule for rounds, then I drink more to relax. Especially if Draco is there. He's kind of a bad influence."

"Draco, as in Draco Malfoy?"

She nodded, "Yeah, that Draco. Our relationship has kind of, shocked the wizarding world. It's so unprecedented. It's what helped lead to the recent attack on Hogwarts. Cormic and company don't like me cozying up to Draco. And they don't like me treating the children of the death eaters like people. Not a fun night."

"How much did you drink after that night?"

"Well, after the initial fight and beginning of clean up, I went back to the common room to find that I still had a few students hiding, so I took them back to their tower, then I went back, and quickly fell asleep. But when I came in, Draco was at least a glass deep into the bottle. If I wasn't so tired, I probably would have finished it off. People I've trusted for many years of my life, betrayed me. The next night I got rip roaring drunk, passed out, and didn't wake up until almost one in the afternoon."

"How does that make you feel, when you do that?"

"I know it's a self-destructive habit, but I don't know anything else. I don't know how to approach it better. I mean, when I finish my homework, leisure books, and the time I dedicate to further study for exams, I get back to the common room, and I have nothing to do but to think about how fucked up my life is; so I try to drown those thoughts away. If I'm drinking, then I forget about my parents not knowing who I am, I forget about being tortured by Bellatrix, seeing the bodies of my dead friends. I forget about how I must be the strong one for everyone. For a few hours, I get to not think about all of my life's troubles."

"What do you try to forget the most?"

"My parents not knowing who I am, and Bellatrix torturing me. I used to have nightmares about Bellatrix, and I could feel the curse ripping through my body. But since they removed the after effect, I just have to deal with the snatchers catching us, and being held in Malfoy Manor."

"Anything else you try to forget about?"

"I don't like remembering when Ron left us. That's something Harry and I don't tell many people. But when we were on the run from Voldemort, and hiding from the snatchers, one night, before Christmas, Ron had a fit, and ran out on us. He disappeared to god knows where, and Harry and I were left to ourselves for a few weeks. It was awful. It was like Ron had betrayed us. I know that Harry has since forgiven him, and I have forgiven him, but I don't trust him completely anymore."

"Why don't you trust him anymore?"

"Well, people's basic instincts never change. When the going gets tough, Ron always will leave. When Harry was forced to compete in the Tri-Wizard tournament, Ron abandoned Harry. During sixth year, Ron dated Lavender Brown just to make me jealous. Technically, it worked; but he really hurt me when he did that. It was incredibly childish. He left me to pursue another bird because he was and is immature. I know he's not going to change. That is what led to our relationship ending. I couldn't trust him, and it seemed forced. It was like, everyone in the wizarding world wanted me to date either Ron or to date Harry. It was so stressful. After a few months, I realized that I couldn't put up with him, he was an absolute slob, he would brush me off when I tried to have a full on conversation with him, and he made fun of me for reading all the time."

"How did breaking up with him make you feel?"

"It made me feel free. Immediately afterwards, people began to pressure me to date Harry. But I couldn't do that, and he was with Ginny, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't. So instead, I kind of, disappeared from the wizarding world. I went back to Hogwarts and helped with the cleanup and rebuilding crew. I faded from the Daily Prophet's headlines. Watching a war hero pick up rubble wasn't as exciting as watching Ron date new girls and Harry go through his Aurora training. They stopped by a few times to help clean up, and it was nice to see them. I mean, Ron is still one of my best friends, but we're terrible when it comes being together."

"So I take it that you were happier after you broke up with Ron?"

"Much happier. I didn't have to babysit him. We'd go to functions that would celebrate Voldemort's defeat, like dinners and balls held by ministry officials, mixers hosted at the ministry, just stuff like that; and all he would do was eat and complain. I would be working the room, saying hello to all of the important people, and he would sulk in the corner. It was very disrespectful and inappropriate. He would complain the entire way and the entire way back. I couldn't stand it. Ron just wanted to stay home, listen to quidditch games, then go to aurora training. It was genuinely like raising a child. I couldn't talk to him about things that were bothering me, like the trials, burying my friends, and losing my parents. He was awful with emotions and would blow the conversations off."

Ginger had started taking notes during Hermione's answers; she sat there in silences for a few seconds reviewing them.

"Did you become intimate with Ron?"

"Yes. It was kind of expected, but I didn't feel any passion with him. He didn't light a spark in me, and I sort of dreaded sleeping with him. Being with him physically felt like a chore."

"After you broke up, were you intimate with anyone else?"

Hermione blushed, "Well, I suppose you know this, but you can't disclose. Ron's brother, George. That was a harder day of my life, finding George in the hospital. Sex with him was nice. It was nicer with him than it was with Ron. George made me forget about everything for a few hours, and I hope I made him forget about everything if only for a little bit."

"Have you been with anyone since George?"

Hermione blushed harder, her face completely turning red, "Draco Malfoy. My boyfriend, we're dating now. Have been for a few months. It was peculiar, it was almost like the entirety of our school career together was some sadistic form of courting. Our full blown relationship started after we slept together. George and I actually had a bet about it. George won."

"What was the bet?"

Hermione sighed, "George claimed that every Head Boy and Girl in the entire history of Hogwarts, got together and slept together at least once. A few weeks after George and I got together, Draco and I had a major screaming match, one thing left to another, and it was the best, mind blowing sex of my life. Everything that I had been missing in my life, I found with Draco."

"And you're still with Draco right?"

"Yes, we've been together officially for a few months. But looking back, there was major sexual tension between us all through our school career. So it feels longer. Even though we were technically, enemies in our early years, we were still incredibly involved in each other's lives."

"What about his bullying in your younger years? You just said that people's basic instincts never change. What happened?"

"Motives change, personalities change, but it's the flight or fight instinct that I care about. Ron was almost always went with the flight response. Unless all eyes were on him, or he was being pressured by myself, Harry, or a family member to stay, he would run away. Draco doesn't run unless it's absolutely necessary. He's always ready to pick a fight and to stay and end a fight. He has changed since our younger years, he's grown up. His basic instincts aren't to hate someone on the basis of what someone can't control. That was taught. He is hot headed, but controlled and calculated if that makes sense. His basic instincts are to survive and fight to protect those who he loves. Ron likes to hide."

"What else attracts you to Draco?"

"He challenges me. With Ron, I couldn't hold a conversation unless it dealt with quidditch or food. I wanted to have conversations about our relationship with giants, the feuding factions within our parliament, ministry reform, and intellectual conversations. Ron never offered that to me! It was food. Quidditch. Or how his hair looked in the most recent photo in the Prophet. Draco is more than happy to discuss that, and often he starts the conversations."

"Anything else?"

"Draco is, he's perfect. He frustrates me, we fight on occasion, we make up properly, he cares for me, he helps me study, respects my space when I'm reading. I mean, nobody is perfect, but he's close to it."

"I know that we have a lot to talk about when it comes to relationships, and we'll get to that, but you said your biggest stressor is your parents not remembering you. Care to explain?"

Hermione sighed, "Yeah, you probably know a bit about the situation from the papers. We did our best to keep them the hell away from my parents, so there aren't any good pictures of them really. I have a thing where I'm a perfectionist, everything has to be done perfect, or it has to be done better than perfect. I take it to the extreme when it comes to my spell work. That translated to my memory charm. I made it irreversible."

Tears formed in the corners of Hermione's eyes, "It was so hard to make that decision. I knew that it was the best way to protect them. They're muggles, and I was the one putting them in danger. Nobody knew who were they were because they were non-magical. Everyone knows who Hermione Granger is, the muggle-born witch who is the brightest witch of her time. But nobody knows that her parents are dentists.

"Hermione, I'm going to diagnose you with anxiety, major depression, bi-polar disorder, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. You don't have too severe of mood swings, but you have described having many manic episodes and panic attacks from the chemicals in your brain running wild. The drinking is only aggravating your depression, and attempting to calm your anxiety. It's not a healthy combo."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Hermione asked, eyes wide opened. She hadn't been expecting a diagnosis, but now that she thought about it, she did have problems.

"Well, I want to put you on a mood stabilizer, and an anti-anxiety medication. If things get worse, we may put you on an anti-depressant, but I'm more concerned about your anxiety. The mood stabilizer should take the edge off of the depression. I want to see you every week for now, until we work through the majority of your problems. I know that you have a full schedule, and with NEWTS coming up, it will only get busier. So I'm going to open my office to you on Saturdays at noon, if that works for you. That was you can get some homework down around those times. But we have a lot to sort through."

Hermione nodded in agreement, "That sounds reasonable. I want to get better. I NEED to get better. It's not healthy, but I have too many people depending on me. Will the medications dull my magic at all?"

"No, I have yet to hear a complaint from a magical client saying that the meds are dampening their magic. If anything, it helps them control it more because their emotions are more controlled. Accidental magic occurs less."

Hermione nodded. Ginger took out a prescription pad and scribbled down a few medications for Hermione to get.

"I want you to get these filled today and for you to start on these immediately. It will take you a few weeks to feel the full effect as your body gets used to the new chemicals. In the meantime, we're going to continue with talk therapy. As time goes on, you will feel more stable, and we will be able to reduce the amount of therapy sessions. And when school ends, you'll be more flexible until you figure out your job."

"What if these medicines don't work?"

"Then we'll try a different one until we get it right. This is an arduous process, but it's worth it. You've seen the wonders worked on Mr. Weasley. I have many more magical folks coming into my office and walking out with prescriptions that have changed their lives. We're going to get you through this Hermione. And it's okay to have those diagnoses. It's good that you now have a name for what's making you feel unstable. You're not crazy, you're just unbalanced."

Hermione nodded, "Thank you. I kinda feel better already."

Ginger smiled, "Good. Now, go get those filled and I'll see you next saturday at noon."

Thus began Hermione's therapy sessions. She would have 3 of them before the school year ended. But they were needed. She poured her soul out into them. Unlike her converstions with Draco, Ginger helped her sort through her issues instead of simply listening to them. She helped her come up with new coping skills, like more yoga, and deep breathing exercises, as opposed to just reading and pretending that everything was okay.

They worked out the roots of the trauma, and the nightmares came less often, and within 2 weeks, right before NEWTS, the meds fully kicked in. Hermione had never felt this better in her life. Everything was stable.

She tackled her NEWTS with new found enthusiasm, almost sobbing because for the first time, she was happy for real. Not because of Draco, or a good book, but because she was balanced again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good, long chapter, i know. Let's be honest folks, that is how Hermione probably felt at some point. She's been through A LOT. Girlfriend needs some therapy. Only a few chapters left.  
> And sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors. This is a marathon and i'm just trying to get it done.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only the epilogue is left you guys! We're almost done! I know it feels a bit rushed, at least it does to me, but we hit all my major plot points, everyone is happy, so I'm happy! So epilogue coming right up!

Hermione stared at the ring that Draco had pushed towards her. He was still sitting across from her in the great hall, eating his oatmeal. He was staring at the bowl instead of her. In a matter of minutes, they would receive their NEWTS results, and then tomorrow, they would graduate.

And Hermione had the decision of leaving Hogwarts as an engaged woman, engaged to Draco Malfoy nonetheless. It was her decision. Their relationship had already shocked the entire wizarding world. An engagement would be just as shocking, maybe less.

Draco was still staring at his oatmeal when he spoke, "Our relationship will never be easy. People will always doubt my feelings and intentions. They will always think that you are crazy. But as time passes, people will see that we genuinely care for each other. That might take a long time though. But if you say yes to this proposal, you should know, that I will love you every day with every fiber of my being. I will be dedicated to only you, I will protect you, and I will care for only you, and any children that you bear. We have gone through many things, in our short lives, and I think that together, we can help heal each others transgressions."

Hermione sniffled, "Why me Draco? Why me of all people?"

Draco finally looked up from his oatmeal, "Because, when you look at me, you see the person that I am. You don't see some sad, pathetic, failed death eater. You see a man, a broken man, but a man. You see a person who has hopes, dreams, and goals. Not some death eater hung up on Voldemort. You trust me."

Hermione picked up the small box and looked the brilliant emerald that was accented by a ring of diamonds.

"I took it to knockturn alley, to a collector. He checked it for curses and hexes. It's clean. It's a family heirloom. Belonged to my great-grandmother. Who was a muggleborn. We don't talk about her much. Nobody knew she was a muggleborn until after her death. She went to a school in America, and they didn't keep records of that stuff. I'm not a true 'pureblood.' I thought it would be fitting for you."

Hermione took the ring out of the box and placed it on the ring finger of her left hand. A hopeful look spread across Draco's face. The ring adjusted to her finger, fitting her perfect.

Hermione took a deep breath and looked at Draco, "Harry and Ron will threaten you with bodily harm. You understand that right?"

Draco nodded, "Yeah, as will half the Great Britain wizarding world. You'll get death threats from the purebloods who are still loyal to the death eater cause. They'll call me a blood traitor, and you a mudblood whore. Are you okay with that?"

Hermione scrunched her nose, "They already call me that, so it's no big deal."

Draco smiled, "So is that an official yes?"

Hermione smiled, "Yes Draco Malfoy. I'll be your wife. We'll announce it tomorrow-"

Ginny sat down next to Hermione right at that moment and instantly noticed the ring. Grabbing her wrist and pulling it towards her, Ginny gasped. "Do I get to be your bridesmaid?" She asked excitedly.

Hermione chuckled, "Keep your fat mouth shut for a day, then yes. You can be my maid of honor. And Luna can be a bridesmaid. But only if you don't tell anyone."

Ginny squealed.

"Shut up Weaslette." Draco said, rolling his eyes.

Just then the owls came with their test results. An owl dropped the envelope in Hermione's lap, and she looked at it. Taking a deep breath, she broke the seal.

An owl for Draco also came, and he opened his envelope at the same time as Hermione.

Hermione's eyes scanned down the paper. She got O's in everything. With a big smile, she looked at Draco.

"O's in everything except Divition. I got an E in that." Draco chuckled, he looked up at his bushy haired witch, "You?"

"All O's."

"Good. We'll figure out our career choices later. Want to go by the lake?"

Hermione nodded.

Ginny made a gagging noise as Draco and Hermione stood and left the great hall. A few students still stared at them, unsure of what to make of the Slytherin bully and the Gryffindor Princess canoodling all about the grounds, especially after the past few weeks.

Tensions were still high at Hogwarts, but not like before. Where plotting was done from behind every corner. The half of the DA who had been pro-cleansing had been sent to Askaban and trials were to begin with Jackson Hughs, murderer of Nathaniel Brews.

Things would never be normal, but they would be okay.

Headmistress McGonagall was also unsure of what to make of the Dramione coupling. Many times before, the head boy and girl would end up together, for at least a few weeks. 

She had expected a healthy, working relationship between the two, not an actual engagement. She had noticed the ring exchange between the two.

She sighed and turned to Flitwick, "What do you make of it?"

"I think they're good for each other. They challenge each other intellectually. Sure, they have a long history behind them, but it's good for them to be together. I think, that together, they can help heal the wizarding world."

McGonagall nodded, "Wise words."

The day was beautiful. The sun was out, the temperature was perfect, and the great squid could be seen in the distance, waving its tentacles in the air. There was a small boat out in the middle of the lake, they couldn't see who was in it, but it didn't really matter.

Hermione sat on the edge of the late and took off her shoes and socks, dipping her toes in the chilly water. Draco sat down next to her, also taking off his shoes and sticking his feet in the water.

"Things are going to change, ya know. It's one thing to be seeing each other together at Hogwarts. It's a whole 'nother thing to continue our relationship post-Hogwarts, and out in the real world." Hermione whispered, staring at the lake.

"You're not going to regret it are you?" Draco asked, glancing at her.

She smiled, "I haven't regretted it so far, so I think that it's going to be fine!"

"How long do you want to be engaged for? We've only been together since like, November, and I know it's rushed, but I want you to be mine officially."

Hermione thought about it for a second, "Let's have a long engagement, just so we can live together in an official, by ourselves setting. We have barely discussed what we're going to do after Hogwarts."

"We're going to move into a two-bedroom flat. Vivian, you remember her? She's going to move in, she's alone in this world and needs a safe place for the summer. You're going to continue therapy, I'm going to study to be a healer while you figure out which job you want. You'll probably want something boring, ike regulation of muggle hair products."

"That's not a real job Draco."

"Not the point. Anyway, we're gonna live together, I'll work at St. Mungos as a 'remove this from my body' healer, and you'll do something that revolutionizes the way the wizarding community works. We're going to be amazing together."

Hermione smiled, "Four year engagement. We'll marry when i'm 23. I don't want to get married at such a young age."

Draco smiled, "Perfect."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave Kudos and Reviews because you love me!


	19. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are DONE. D.O.N.E. DONE!

*Two Years Later*

Hermione Granger never imagined herself as one to get married at the age of twenty-one. Yet Hermione Granger also never imagined herself as one to have a shotgun wedding, being four months pregnant and moving her wedding date up by two years.

It was already shameful for Draco Malfoy to marry a muggleborn. But it was even more shameful to marry a muggleborn out of wedlock. They decided to get it over with quickly, and hope that nobody would count back with the pregnancy. Undoubtedly somebody would though.

Hermione's wedding dress was a bit tight, especially around her waist. She was beginning to show, and she would be damned if she had to get this stupid dress altered again. 

She squeezed herself into it with the help of Ginny and Luna. She glanced at the flower bouquet sitting in the vase. She smiled at it, this was actually going to happen.

Her only regrets were that her parents weren't there to witness her wedding. She always had the dream of her father walking down the aisle. She wanted her mother to approve of Draco, and for her mother to chide her on getting pregnant so early.

But, her adoptive family was here. All of her professors from Hogwarts, the entire Weasley clan, her few friends from Hogwarts, and most importantly, Harry.

Luna started picking at Hermione's hair.

"Luna," Hermione sighed, "What are you doing?"

"I'm adding some baby's breath flowers. They'll help drive off the heliopaths." Luna said dreamily.

Hermione smiled, she decided to indulge Luna.

"I'm sorry your parents aren't here," Luna said, "I think that they would ultimately approve of Draco. Once they saw how you interact with him. And how happy he makes you now. They would love him. It would take them awhile, but they would. But since they are not here, just know that I approve. Doesn't count for much, but I approve."

Hermione smiled again, "Thank you Luna. That means a lot."

There was a soft knock at the door, and Harry stuck his head in, "You ready to do this Hermione?"

She nodded and pulled her bouquet from the water, "Yes I am Mr. Chosen One."

Draco had never felt more panicked. He was pacing in the room, stressing out. George Weasley entered the room unannounced.

"Hello Ferret! How are you holding up?" He asked, a twinkle in his eye.

"What if she runs George? Gets cold feet and decides that she doesn't want to marry me?" Draco rushed.

"Ferret, you have yourself quite a catch, she's not going to run. If she was thinking about it, then Ginny would have told me, and I would have swooped in and saved her."

Draco forced out a laugh, "Still hung up on her Weasley? How is the other Weasley handling this?"

"Well, he found that muggle girl that he likes, so he's holding up very well. And no, I am not hung up on her. She's one of my best friends, and if you hurt her, the threat still stands that I will be in the top ten of people who will kick your ass."

"Well, I made her pregnant, so that is going to hurt when she pushes my spawn out of her."

George shuddered, "Don't remind me that we fucked the same bird you sniveling ferret."

Draco laughed.

Things had been well for Dramione. Vivian had moved out officially a few weeks before, prepared for her new role as a ministry official. Draco and Hermione were moving into the Malfoy Cottage by the sea. Hermione didn't want to raise their child in the manor. She had been back multiple times to visit Narcissa, but it was too big and drafty for Hermione's liking.

She saw her therapist a few times a year, no longer needing intensive therapy. Draco started seeing the therapist too, and now he didn't drink as much. He was excelling as a healer in training, and was contemplating going to muggle medical school, just to learn what the muggles know.

Hermione worked in muggle relations. She was trying to bridge the gap between wizards and witches and muggle technology.

Draco smiled softly to himself as George left the room and his mother entered. She adjusted his tie and engulfed him in a hug.

"You chose a wonderful witch. I'm so proud of you," she whispered.

"Thank you mum." Draco replied.

Minutes later, Draco and Hermione were standing at the alter, hand in hand as the minister of magic bound them in holy matrimony, and preformed a hand fastening ceremony for the young couple. The crowd cheered as Draco gave Hermione a passionate kiss, wrapping his arm around her waist and dipping her.

*5 Months Later*

Theodosia came into the world kicking and screaming. She brought great joy to her parents.

*2 years later*

Nathaniel was next to arrive

*4 years*

Alexander and Lawrence

*5 Years*

Jasmine

*7 Years*

Minerva

*11 years Later*

And so Theodosia was sent off to Hogwarts, to have her mind filled with stuff about magic and history. Draco and Hermione prepared her for all she would learn about them, as Dramione was a part of the curriculum now, with the 2nd wizarding war followed by the cleansing. Followed by all that Draco was doing at St. Mungos with the adaption of Muggle medical procedures into wizarding procedures. They were living history and Theodosia was about to learn all about them.

*102 years Later*

They laid next to each other as Draco passed into the next realm, immediately followed by Hermione.

7 children, 49 grandchildren, 343 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great grandchildren, with 12 more on the way, the Malfoy-Granger's had left a legacy, one that would survive generations. A new beginning for the wizarding world, overseen by two teenagers who were madly in love, and who grew to a ripe old age.

A perfect ending to an imperfect story.

With each challenge, they were fearless and persevered.

Thus ends the tale of Dramione.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wrote the last 5 chapters of this fic, in like LITERALLY 4 hours. I downed 2 Monsters and wrote like crazy.  
> BUT!  
> I AM DONE with this fic! I am proud of my work, the epilogue is rushed, sorry about that, but I ran out of ideas other than wedding and marriage and babies galore. BUT I USED THE WORD FEARLESS SO HA! Thank you for sticking with me, and i'll announce my next project soon!  
> PEACE!

**Author's Note:**

> Please review and leave Kudos! Let me know what you think!


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